Children who came to the Netherlands as unaccompanied refugees and have been deported back to Angola and Congo are not using places at two orphanages paid for by the Dutch state, the immigration service IND confirmed on Monday.

Most juveniles were taken care of by members of their family on their return, the IND said, in response to an article in the Volkskrant.
The paper reported that only one child has used the orphanage in Angola since it was opened in 2003 by former immigration minister Rita Verdonk. However, in 2004, it was decided to keep funding the centre because of the ‘good results’, the paper said.
In 2005, the government decided to pay for four places at an orphanage in Congo to ease the return of failed juvenile refugees. The IND can deport children if there is ‘adequate care’ for them in their country of origin.
The deportation of minors is on the political agenda again after it emerged a Congolese boy, thought to be around five-years-old, is to be deported despite having lived with the same foster family for over four years.
According to the IND, the boy’s foster parents knew it was only a temporary placement and therefore his right to a family life, as set down in the European Treaty on Human Rights, no longer applied, the paper said.