Refugee Week: Sector calls for end of asylum-seeking children ‘mistreatment’
Fiona Simpson
Tuesday, June 15, 2021
The government has been urged to end the “mistreatment” of asylum-seeking children arriving in the UK.
To mark Refugee Week (14-20 June), foster care charity TACT has called on the government to change the way unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC) are treated.
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Legal Update: Transferring asylum-seeking children
The calls come as Kent County Council announced it could no longer safely accept UASC into care following an influx of arrivals at the port of Dover over the last two months.
Kent and TACT are among those leading a campaign to make the government’s National Transfer Scheme (NTS) compulsory, meaning all local authorities would be required to take responsibility for UASC.
Here, CYP Now lays out the key issues facing UASC:
Inadequate funding and support for local authorities to care for unaccompanied children seeking asylum
Organisations, local authorities and politicians have all called for increased funding to support local authorities to properly take part in the NTS.
Last week, Home Secretary Priti Patel announced £20m of funding for the NTS and the Department for Education pledged £6m to 56 councils deemed to be most “under pressure”.
However, David Simmonds, Conservative MP for Hillingdon, is among those calling for a “properly funded” NTS.
“Where it becomes a political issue is when these councils are being voluntarily asked to incur huge costs to take on high-needs vulnerable young people without the proper funds to do it, so it becomes the expense of the taxpayer.
“What needs to happen is proper funding to pay for specialist social workers in willing local authorities to support these young people,” he told CYP Now.
Andy Elvin, chief executive of TACT, added: “The Home Office cannot reasonably expect local authorities to voluntarily “do their part” while incurring large financial shortfalls. The Home Office must ensure that the responsibility for caring for asylum-seeking children is shared among local authorities by making the scheme compulsory and providing them with funding that meets their costs in full.”
Councillor Anntoinette Bramble, chair of the Local Government Association’s children and young people board, said: “Recent funding uplifts from government have helped councils to do this, however, the funding received still does not cover the costs of ensuring these young people receive the support they need to overcome the traumas they have faced and to settle into their new communities. There are also significant pressures on placements for children in care and it is important young people can be found the right homes for their needs.
“Councils want to help the government to find safe, loving homes for these young people, but they must be supported to do so.”
Age assessments
TACT has raised concerns over government proposals to introduce a new Age Assessment Board for determining the age of UASC as part of the Immigration Act.
According to Matt Dunkley, director of children’s services in Kent, 75 per cent of UASC who have arrived in Dover this year have been subject to age disputes.
“These can take months and months to resolve,” he said, “which not only puts financial pressure on the council and takes up a lot of resource, it’s also incredibly stressful for the young person.”
The new system is proposed to use “scientific methods” to assess the age of those presenting as UASC as well as the introduction of “fast-track” appeals to “avoid excessive judicial review litigation”.
TACT has accused the Home Office of proposing a “pared down appeals process that will limit the legal options for those judged to be adults”.
“Changes to how the margin of error is defined is a further example of the system being stacked against the child’s best interest. Currently, there is a safeguard in place that a child’s age will only be disputed if there is reason to believe they are over the age of 25. In the new plan, this will be replaced with the far more subjective threshold of 'appear significantly over the age of 18 years',” Elvin said.
Use of unregulated supported accommodation
TACT described the use of unregulated accommodation for UASC aged 16 to 18 as “completely unacceptable”.
Elvin said: “Unaccompanied children seeking asylum have just as much need for care as other children without legal guardians, with the additional challenge of navigating an entirely new society. Foster carers are perfectly placed to be the strong advocate and compassionate guardian that these children need.”
Fiona, a TACT foster carer, added: “This approach, using unregulated accommodation is a national disgrace. It positions young people seeking asylum as 'unworthy' of best interests' provision. These vulnerable young people, many of whom have been trafficked, find themselves in accommodation which enhances their vulnerability.”
Lack of mental health support for UASC
Helen Johnson, head of children at the Refugee Council, said delays in finding placements for children who arrive in the UK “can cause visible signs of frustration and anxiety, with some children becoming withdrawn and shutting down”.
“Although these children have endured so much and appear resilient, they do not always have the mechanisms to deal with something that, on the surface, appears to be a relatively minor issue. For some of these children, this can act as a catalyst for existing issues to manifest,” she added, noting that the government’s recent announcement on changes to the NTS lacks detail on “specialist services such as immigration legal advice and mental health support.”
TACT has also raised concerns over the mental health of UASC.
Elvin said: “All children seeking asylum have experienced some degree of trauma, and one in four meet the criteria for a diagnosable mental health issue. The unnecessary stress and anxiety caused by the uncertainty of their status and the prospect of their deportation to unsafe countries is inhumane.”