then to obtain a document enabling the child to rejoin his or her family rather than providing recognition of nationality. A member of the network will contact a partner organisation for assistance in tracing the family of the child concerned, or travel to the country themselves with the children involved. It can take months or years to make these connections, and they are not always successful. Where the birth family is traced, national authorities of the child’s country of residence and/or origin will provide the children with a safe conduct pass (sauf conduit) to enable to return to the family (if that is determined to be in the best interests of the child); however, this is only a travel document, and does not prove the child’s nationality or legal identity. If the family is not traced, the child may be left without documentation entirely, and thus without the ability to obtain proof of nationality — even in countries where the law provides for the attribution of nationality to abandoned children. Those children who do not come to the attention of any social welfare agency – certainly a very large number -- will not receive such assistance in getting documents: the procedures are time-consuming, require an understanding of the system, and depend on the child having free time and permission to travel, and an advocate to speak for them. Those who do not receive such assistance are likely to remain undocumented and at high risk of statelessness. Although advocacy by children’s rights groups, and the UN agencies, for the principle of the “best interests of the child” to govern state interaction with children has made an impact, especially in relation to registration of births, it has not focused to the same extent on achieving reforms to national law to ensure the right of vulnerable children to acquire a nationality. 4.8.1. Abandoned babies, orphaned children and children born out of wedlock Most nationality laws, with the exception in West Africa of Côte d’Ivoire, Gambia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone, provide for a foundling (new born infant) or, more generously, a child of unknown parents to be presumed to be a national (see above, section 2.6.2). This provision is reinforced in some countries by provisions of the Code de la famille or a specific children’s law. In Senegal, Niger, and Guinea, for example, a system exists to declare an abandoned infant to the state authorities, and the child will then be given a provisional birth certificate and name, which can later be confirmed if no parents are found; and the child will obtain nationality with no further difficulties. In Senegal, however, the presumption on nationality is restricted to abandoned new-born infants, excluding children who are found at an older age but are still unable to identify or trace their parents. In Côte d’Ivoire, the law on civil registration establishes a procedure to provide a provisional birth certificate to a child251; however, since the foundling provision included in the 1961 nationality code was repealed in 1972, a birth certificate will not resolve the question of the child’s nationality, leaving the child at risk of statelessness.252 However, even where the legal frameworks are in place, the practice may be different. A point of difficulty is often where a birth certificate needs to be established. There is a theoretical commitment to universal birth registration across West Africa, and in principle either the father or mother or another interested party may declare the child. But in practice there are many challenges: not only with poor coverage of the territory and lack of accessibility of registration, but also in relation to the details that are required to be completed in the registration form and the training of staff in relation to those details. In the case of abandoned babies or children 251 252 Art. 46 de la loi de 1964 sur l’état civil telle que modifiée par la loi n° 99-691 du 14 décembre 1999. Interview Dignité et Droits pour les Enfants en Côte d’Ivoire, Abidjan, June 2014. 75