Better support is needed for young refugees

Many have fled difficult circumstances in their countries and face challenges making new lives. The impact of this is they face poor long-term prospects. These young people can often feel isolated or suffer from a lack of confidence and, due to their different backgrounds and limited language skills, may not be able to access mainstream youth services.

Unaccompanied minors are one of the most vulnerable groups in our society, often socially excluded and stigmatised. But many specialist projects around the country are working with them to help them access important services and integrate into society.

The Separated Children: Strong Voices project in Birmingham has been developed by the children's section at the Refugee Council. The project holds fortnightly two-hour sessions with a group of separated children aged between 14 and 18. Fifteen to 30 young people benefit from the workshops, which are designed to help them integrate into their local communities, understand the UK asylum process, improve their school performance and help them pave their way into future education and employment. As well as gaining a wide range of skills, the children also have an opportunity to meet and socialise with other young people and play an active role in society, including involvement in the Youth Parliament and consultations. Using their own initiative, the young people at the project have set up a blog - curioustourist2008.blogspot.com - to share their experiences.

The Trinity Centre in east London runs Dost, a service that supports vulnerable children and young refugees in particular. As well as educational programmes, it also runs residential weekends during which children can leave the inner city, often for the first time, and form positive bonds with other children and staff. Young refugees can also benefit from support, advice and advocacy from caseworkers who help them with the asylum process, social services and, where appropriate, mental health services.

Refugee children who have been separated from their families are particularly in need of support as they carve out their new lives. It is encouraging that many organisations are setting up tailored programmes to help them integrate more easily into their environment. However, more still needs to be done to ensure mainstream services learn from and link into these specialist services to provide the holistic support needed to help these young people achieve their potential.