An unaccompanied minor is a child without the presence of a legal guardian. This term is used in immigration law and in airline policies. The specific definition varies from country to country and from airline to airline.

Immigration law

In immigration law unaccompanied minors, also known as separated children, are generally defined as foreign nationals or stateless persons below the age of 18, who arrive on the territory of a state unaccompanied by a responsible adult, and for as long as they are not effectively taken into care of such a person. It includes minors who are left unaccompanied after they entered the territory of state.

Most European and North American countries have experienced an increase in unaccompanied minors’ flow. The majority of minors are male, between 15 and 18 years, from Afghanistan, Iraq, Western and Central Africa and Somalia. Most apply for asylum after arriving in the receiving country.

A few countries have non-asylum procedures in place to adjudicate unaccompanied minor cases. In Spain most cases fall under the non-asylum procedure. In the United States in addition to asylum certain vulnerable unaccompanied minors may be eligible for a T visa (trafficking victim),U visa (victims of crime), or Special Immigrant Juvenile status (abused, neglected, or abandoned child).

The seventh season of the American television medical drama Grey's Anatomy, commenced airing on September 23, 2010 on the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), and concluded on May 19, 2011 ending the season with a total of 22 episodes. The season was produced by ABC Studios, in association with ShondaLand Production Company and The Mark Gordon Company; the showrunner being Shonda Rhimes.

The season follows the aftermath of season six shooting, amidst which Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey), Alex Karev (Justin Chambers) and Owen Hunt (Kevin McKidd) are shot. Cristina Yang (Sandra Oh) was the most affected by the shooting, quitting her job. Cristina and Owen later marry with "her person" and the show's protagonist Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) as her maid of honor. Meredith and Derek starting an Alzheimer trial, with Meredith suspecting that Richard Webber's (James Pickens, Jr.) wife Adele (Loretta Devine) may have Alzheimer's. Arizona Robbins (Jessica Capshaw) leaves for Africa after getting a grant leaving Callie Torres (Sara Ramirez) in ruins, she ends up sleeping with Mark Sloan (Eric Dane) only to find out she's pregnant, just as Arizona comes back confessing her love for Callie. Meredith messes up the trial for the sake of Adele only to have Alex find out and to tell Hunt leading to Alex being kicked out of Meredith's house, and Derek leaving Meredith with Zola. Lexie Grey (Chyler Leigh) first decides that she's going to give Mark a second chance but later starts a relationship with Jackson Avery (Jesse Williams). Teddy Altman (Kim Raver) starts a relationship with Andrew Perkins (James Tupper) a trauma counselor later falls for her patient Henry Burton.