A non-governmental organization (NGO), which deals with the support of prisoners and ex-prisoners, reported to the Authority that an alien mother was prevented from communicating and reuniting with her two minor children who, at the time of her detention, were housed in a child protection shelter, following the public prosecutor's order.

 

The investigation of the case showed that the impediment was mainly due to errors and shortcomings in the entry in civil records of the two infants who were born in Greece. Another serious issue was that the mother’s deadline to leave the country had expired, which resulted in her illegal stay. Because of the above problems, the prosecutor rejected the reunification request, and the competent consulate did not issue travel documents for the family to return to their homeland.

 

The Ombudsman instructed the NGO to carry out the necessary actions (administrative and judicial) for the settlement of the civil status of the minors, as well as the temporary legalisation of the mother's residence in Greece. The Authority also requested assistance from the relevant Embassy and the Ombudsman of the aliens’ country of origin, regarding the issue of a temporary travel document to the younger child and also the social service’s activation after the family’s return. In the context of intensive co-operation with the competent Greek public prosecutor, the Authority’s suggestion for a DNA test by was met with a positive response. 

 

Following these mediatory interventions: 1) the immediate but also helpful reunification of the family was ordered, 2) the Authority provided instructions for the acceleration of the process of correcting the civil status of the younger child as soon as possible, aiming at the family’s timely departure from Greece, even in case the foreign authorities failed to respond to the request for temporary travel documents issue.