different reasons, including difficulties proving their identity, family links, and ties to their (or their parents’) country of origin. Guardians can encounter children with different nationality or birth registration related issues. For example, children: • • • • • who have a nationality (which they may have acquired automatically based on parentage and/or place of birth), but lack any documents to prove this and need support for this to be confirmed and documented who are stateless and need assistance to have their statelessness formally recognised (through a statelessness determination procedure) and acquire a nationality who are refugees and may be at risk of statelessness because they cannot access proof of their nationality (due to fear or other reasons), or exercise any rights attached to it who were born en route to Europe/in transit and do not have a birth certificate so require support to register their birth and acquire a nationality (or confirm this through documentation) whose nationality is unclear or disputed, and who need support to clarify their nationality status Identifying where a child or young person might be stateless or have an undetermined nationality will help ensure access to fundamental rights and services. While some children may have proof of their statelessness (e.g. a stateless person’s travel or identity document), many will not and may not know they are stateless. So, it is very important that the authorities and services they encounter - including guardians - can recognise and respond appropriately to statelessness related issues. This is particularly relevant for guardians given their key role in providing information to children and young people, supporting their access to services, safeguarding their best interests and wellbeing, and assisting them in relevant procedures. Four Key Moments to address statelessness 1. Initial contact and vulnerability assessment Statelessness is often not immediately visible and may only become apparent later in a young person’s migration journey or during their transition into adulthood. If not identified and addressed early, critical opportunities to resolve any issues relating to a young person’s birth registration or nationality can be missed. Identifying and addressing statelessness as early as possible is essential to ensure that children receive appropriate child-friendly information, free legal counselling and assistance, and access to protection. Some European countries have dedicated procedures to determine statelessness and grant stateless people (including children) protection on this basis. Nationality problems are often much harder to resolve as an adult because of how nationality laws are written. There is often a deadline in the law (commonly between 18-22 years-old) for a young person to confirm a nationality they may be entitled to on the basis of family links or place of birth. If a child is registered as having undetermined or unknown nationality – or with 3