A young migrant disembarked on the Italian island of Lampedusa on Sept. 15 while holding the hand of toddler of around only three years old. He told the Red Cross volunteers and the police at the port immediately that he had no idea who the child was."I found him in the desert, alone and abandoned. I took him with me to save him but he was not a family member and I do not know how to take care of him," the young North African migrant said.

No one knows the name or nationality of the small boy who, currently, is at the Imbriacola hotspot - in the section for children and single mothers - and for which a foster family will now be sought.

Helped by Save the Children and the Red Cross

"I could not let him die alone in the desert and so I took him with me and we made the journey together...," the boy said, noting that the toddler had never spoken to him. Save the Children and the Italian branch of the Red Cross are assisting the boy alongside psychologists, trying to get him to give any information at all about his story.

No one knows what traumas the nameless child has suffered and thus far he has not interacted with anyone else.

However, on Lampedusa multiple people are vying to foster him until a family is found that can adopt him.

Future to be decided by Palermo family court

The Palermo family court will decide what to do with the small refugee. The court will have to verify, as the law foresees, whether he has any relatives in the country and then whether there are any adoption requests by "appropriate" families.

At that point the court will designate a tutor and the child will be inserted into an age-appropriate facility. Judges will then have to ratify the reception measures.

If necessary, the child neuropsychiatry department may also take him into its care as an urgent measure.