31 Kirsten Talevski Head of 1st Division Unaccompanied refugee children ‘(…) it is of crucial importance to a child’s mental wellbeing and further development that it is clear about its parents’ situation.’ (From the legislative history behind Act to amend the Aliens Act and the Integration Act, Act No. 60 of 29 January 2003) With the amendment of the Aliens Act in 2003, Parliament decided that the Immigration Service was to be obliged to initiate a search for the parents of ­unaccompanied minors seeking asylum. The search had to be initiated as soon as possible after the child’s arrival in Denmark and normally required the child’s consent. Subsequently, in 2007, the obligation was extended. The Immigration Service thus became obliged to search for the parents of all unaccompanied children – irrespective of whether the child has applied for asylum or not. In addition, the obligation was no longer dependent on the child’s consent. At the same time, it was now decided that all unaccompanied children whose application for residence had been rejected had to be offered well-organised and safe repatriation, so-called ‘prepared repatriation’. In other words, the authorities had to investigate whether a family member, organisation or the like could be ready to receive the child at its return and help it afterwards. In this way, the arrangement could also result in the child being reunited with its parents or other family. The Iraqi boy In December 2008, a 16-year-old Iraqi boy arrived in Denmark and applied for asylum. He stated that his parents and sister had been killed in a bomb explo-