Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit (GMIAU) has produced a document for social workers, interpreters and those acting as appropriate adults written by former unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC) who have been through the age assessment process.
Nine young people who are part of GMIAU’s All4One programme which supports asylum seeking young people living in Manchester helped to create the guides for adults working with their peers.
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Laura Gibbons, the unit's public law solicitor, said: “The young people involved were also very keen for the adults and various professionals involved in the age assessment process to understand what it was like for them, how it made them feel to be disbelieved and, if an age assessment has to happen, how it could have been done better.
“The key feeling for all young people involved was that they wanted the adults involved in the process to understand just how important their role is and how significant (and upsetting) the process can be for them.”
Advice for social workers includes:
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Think about us as children and treat us like we are
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Think about the impact an age assessment will have on our relationship
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Think about the experiences we have been through.
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Think about the impact on us if you don’t believe our age.
Interpreters are asked to:
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Make sure you speak the same dialect and we can understand each other
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Make sure you understand what we say before interpreting.
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Don’t put pressure on us to answer if we don’t know
While advice for appropriate adults includes:
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Make clear who you are, what your role is and that you are there for us.
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Make notes of questions and answers. These can be an important record of what happened and whether things have been interpreted properly.
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Look out for us and our best interests; ask us if we need a break and please intervene if there is a problem.
GMIAU has also produced a guide for young people undergoing assessments.
It explains the basic process of age assessments, who is involved and possible outcomes of each state of the process.
It also offers first hand experiences and advice from young people who have undergone age disputes.
Its publication comes after Home Secretary Priti Patel wrote to local authorities last month calling for age assessments to be pushed through more quickly.
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She also said the Home Office would help fund councils facing legal action over results.
Age assessments, known as “Merton Assessments” can take months or as long as a year to complete, GMIAU said.
Roxanne Nanton, age dispute adviser at the Refugee Council, who advised on the project, added: “This prolonged uncertainty has a huge impact on the mental health of these young people as they often feel that they cannot progress in life until they receive a decision on their age.”
CASE STUDY: The damage that age assessment dispute caused one young refugee
Hiwa*, is a young person GMIAU supported who came to the UK from Iran. He was detained following his age being disputed. A solicitor helped to secure his release from detention, and Hiwa subsequently had his age accepted.
He has now been granted refugee status, and was helped to secure damages for his period of unlawful detention. He says:
"When I came here, I had no documents on me, as I left them inside the lorry. Here they did not sort me out for about two years. As soon as I made a friend in one place, I was transferred. It was very unpleasant for me.
"When I left my country, I was scared. Here, they arrested me, and they used to say 'we will send you back' and things like that, and that is why this time was a very scary time for me.
"It would be good, when you place someone here, to keep them in the same place for a while and not move them so soon – not transfer them until their age is accepted. Also, during the time until they carry out the age assessment, if they know how long it will take, to keep the person busy. Either by games, or taking them to a college or a gym, or to a group. It would be very good because the person would not be fed up so much. These are good things to do until the age assessment is properly sorted.
"I hope that whoever comes to this country can carry some evidence (ID documents) to avoid being transferred so many times from one place to another."
*Names have been changed to protect identity
