This paper presents the results of the research work that I have been conducting since 2010 with the community of unaccompanied migrant children taken into care under the child protection system of the Autonomous Community of Galicia (Spain). It provides an analysis of the impact of institutionalization on the migration projects and pathways of children from Beni Mellal (Morocco) and places special emphasis on the protection system’s role in their transition to adulthood. The study reveals that youngsters’ pathways are largely conditioned by family dynamics as well as by structural determinants, and in particular public policy on unaccompanied children in Spain and in Galicia. A multidimensional approach enabled me to observe how the linking of macro-, meso-, and microsocial elements greatly contributes to defining the orientation and results of such pathways.