tary departure rates. By contrast, the European Commis­sion states that every year more than 400,000 foreign nationals without the right to stay in the EU are ordered to leave, yet only around 20 percent are effectively re ­turned 39 . The expansion of detention proposed in the Re­turn Regulation is unlikely to improve return outcomes and may, by undermining trust and engagement, actively worsen them. Promising Practice in Europe As this section demonstrates, promising practices of rights­based, community-centred ATD already exist, including across Europe, showing that these models can be imple­mented effectively and at scale. The European ATD Network(EATDN) 40 is a group of Eu­ropean NGOs, coordinated by the International Detention Coalition, which aims to reduce and end immigration de­tention by building evidence and momentum on engage­ment-based ATD. The network brings together NGOs run­ning case management-based ATD pilot projects or pro­grammes in nine European countries (Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Spain and the UK) with regional-level and international organisations. EATDN member organisations in Bulgaria, Poland, Cyprus and the UK have run community-based case manage­ment pilot projects over several years, with independent evaluations demonstrating significant positive outcomes. An initial 2018 evaluation of the pilot projects in Bulgaria, Cyprus and Poland 41 found that 97 percent of the 93 indi ­viduals supported through community-based case man­agement remained engaged with immigration procedures and did not abscond, with positive movement towards case resolution in 88 percent of examined cases. A subse ­quent 2020 evaluation of pilots providing case manage ­ment and legal support to 126 individuals with irregular status reported that 86 percent remained engaged, 99 percent demonstrated improved ability to participate in informed decision-making, and 96 percent showed im ­proved ability to engage with immigration procedures over time 42 . Furthermore, the EATDN’s Impact Report 43 provides evidence on the effectiveness of casework, better engagement between government, local authorities and civil society in the form of formal and informal partner­ships, increased institutional capacity for ATD in govern­ment departments, and enhanced understanding of and increased interest in ATD among local NGOs, academia and the media. Belgium has demonstrated progress on the implementa­tion of alternatives to detention in recent years, despite a complex political landscape. As the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum was being negotiated, paving the way for ex­panding child immigration detention, Belgium enacted a new law that prohibits child immigration detention, pre­venting the detention of children in closed centres 44 . This positive move came as part of a broader set of migration reforms more focused on surveillance that also include stricter measures on forced returns, family reunification and mandatory health testing. This legislation still allows families with children to be kept in“return houses”, or semi-closed residential facilities in the community, whilst awaiting a decision on their asylum case, their removal from the country or their voluntary return. As such, it illus­trates progress at the national level in Belgium that is in contrast with the significant backsliding witnessed at the regional level. In June 2021, Belgium’s Immigration Office established its Alternatives to Detention Department 45 to develop and implement alternative solutions to detention, mainly by creating Individual Case Management(ICAM) coach­ing programmes. The coaching programmes, operational since 2022, are open to individuals in Belgium who have received a return decision. They offer case management support to the individuals concerned so that they can make informed decisions about their case and their fu­ture, enabling them to remain in the community 46 . In 2025, ICAM coaches enrolled 8,812 unique individuals in the support programme and conducted intake interviews with 5,759 of them. It identified 1,362 sustainable out ­comes, of which 439 resulted in a right to stay and 923 in voluntary return. The Belgium ATD Department works in close partnership with NGOs, as does Fedasil, which sup­ports community-based projects with local authorities and NGOs. One such example of an effective pilot pro­gramme on ATD is the ongoing five-year project for fam­ilies in Belgium, Plan Together 47 , a community-based NGO case management model implemented by the Jes­uit Refugee Service Belgium, a member of the European 39  European Commission.(n.d.). An effective, firm and fair EU return and readmission policy. https://home-affairs.ec.europa.eu/policies/migration-and-asylum/irregular-mi­gration-and-return/effective-firm-and-fair-eu-return-and-readmission-policy_en 40  https://atdnetwork.org/ 41  Ohtani, E.(2018). Evaluation of the EPIM alternative to detention pilot projects: Briefing paper. European Programme for Integration and Migration(EPIM) https://www. statewatch.org/media/documents/news/2018/sep/eu-epim-alternatives-to-detention-final.pdf 42  https://atdnetwork.org/news/evaluation-of-alternative-to-detention-pilot-projects-shows-positive-impact-of-case-management/. Pilz, B.,& Kiernan, M.-L. B.(2020). Build­ing a culture of cooperation: Evaluation of engagement-based alternative to immigration detention pilot projects in Bulgaria, Cyprus and Poland. https://idcoalition.org/ new-evaluation-report-building-a-culture-of-cooperation-through-atd-in-europe/ 43  https://atdnetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/EATDN-Impact-Study-2023.pdf 44  https://idcoalition.org/belgium-bans-child-immigration-detention-amidst-broader-legislation/ 45  https://dofi.ibz.be/en/themes/irregular-stay/alternatives-detention 46  https://dofi.ibz.be/sites/default/files/2025-09/2024%20activiteitenverslag%20DVZ.pdf 47  https://atdnetwork.org/news/plan-together-gathering-evidence-and-learning-on-case-management-as-an-alternative-to-detention-in-belgium/ Community-Based Alternatives to Immigration Detention 6