Posted on 16/12/2019

Assistance for children of undocumented workers

Fondation Dora is supporting the Centre de Contact Suisses-Immigrés (CCSI) in its mission to provide migrant children with as normal a childhood and education as possible. Each year CCSI works with 1250 families (around 2,000 children) to help them make their way out of poverty and ensure the respect of the rights of the children involved. 

Geneva has a steady population of undocumented workers, mainly employed as domestic or restaurant help and construction or agricultural day laborers. Many of these workers have their children with them but are unable or unaware of how to access appropriate health care and educational structures—a situation with a negative impact on many levels and that contributes to overall social and financial insecurity.

Specifically, CCSI assists the children of undocumented workers in a number of ways: by guaranteeing access to appropriate child care or schooling so that parents may continue to work, by providing assistance and subsidies to ensure food security for the family, by making the professionals who work with this population of children aware of their specific challenges and their rights, by facilitating health insurance and administrative procedures, and, when possible, by submitting requests to regularise their status with the authorities.

CCSI is a non-profit organization that defends migrants’ rights in Geneva. It is committed to ensuring that migrants’ rights are respected, and to promoting an open and fair society. For more information about CCSI, use the following link: