An unannounced inspection of the detention of migrants arriving in Dover, Kent, by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, found that children were “held for far too long and often overnight”.
This was partly because Kent County Council’s social services department no longer has the capacity to care for unaccompanied minors, meaning children waited a long time for social workers to arrive from other counties, a report of the inspection states.
Kent County Council declared in August that it could no longer “safely” care for any more unaccompanied children, after accepting 450 into its care this year.
Inspectors found that most children were held in Kent Intake Unit in Dover, with 73 unaccompanied and 250 accompanied children held there in the three months to 31 August 2020.
On average they were held for just over 17 hours, which was longer than the average for adults, with 29 per cent of unaccompanied children at KIU held for more than 24 hours.
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