HELIOS Junior — housing and autonomy for young adults 18–21
When unaccompanied children turn 18 they often lose all protection. In our Thessaloniki apartments they find a safe home and support towards independence.
Funded by
HELIOS Junior is implemented by IOM Greece with funding from the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) through the General Secretariat for Migration Policy of the Ministry of Migration and Asylum. Vela Greece is an implementing partner.
Turning 18 is one of the most dangerous moments in an unaccompanied child's journey: on their birthday they lose access to child protection services, often without a home, a job or a network.
HELIOS Junior, part of IOM's HELIOS integration programme, supports young people aged 18–21 who arrived in Greece as unaccompanied minors. In Vela's apartments in Thessaloniki they find a safe home and daily support from our team.
Together we work on life skills — running a household and a budget, language, paperwork — and on preparing for work: CVs, vocational training, connections with employers. The goal is simple: to leave the programme with a home, an income and the network they need to stand on their own.