ICAR

To provide a clear picture of how far the Government have to go in meeting their genuine aspirations (as set out in the UK Border Agency Code of Practice for keeping children safe from harm, January 2009) to protect children from harm and to promote their welfare, and to present the UK Border Agency (UKBA) with an urgent action plan to help put this right.

Methodology

The research uses case studies of the children and their families whom the authors are in contact with on a daily a basis in addition to a range of independent sources of evidence, including reports such as: ‘Risk and resilience for psychological distress in unaccompanied asylum seeking adolescents’ (Hodes, Matthew) published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, ‘No Place for a Child’, Save the Children 2005 and articles such as: ‘Innocent Prisoners: The scandal of Britain’s child detainees’ published in the New Statesman. Case studies are also used to highlight the reality of children going through the asylum system; the outcome of their claim for asylum is also detailed. The issues highlighted in each case study are then discussed in line with what is stated in the UKBA Code and current practices.

Key Findings

The findings were discussed as ‘Alternative models’; new ways of thinking about age disputes, decision making, discretionary leave, guardianship as well as alternatives to detention and way to address the poverty faced by children seeking asylum.

The researchers believe that the experiences of children in the asylum system do not need to be so painful and disturbing; there are other viable ways to most of the problems that children face. The Code is seen as a useful starting point and reflects a genuine aspiration of the government however the case studies shows that more needs to be done by either improving practice covered by the code but not currently been delivered or introducing new processes and principles and ensuring these are covered by the code or other regulations.

Decision making

• Evidence show that decision making in children’s cases is often flawed. Decision about their parent’s claim or their own claim, leads to hardship for vulnerable asylum seeking children

• The government has set up an early legal advice pilot based in Solihull, West Midlands. Everyone in the pilot was guaranteed access to a legal representative before the first critical interview with the UKBA. The results from the pilot were very positive and it is strongly believed that such a model would be especially beneficial to unaccompanied asylum seeking children. The researchers propose that the government extends this pilot to children’s claim.

• In all cases, children should be guaranteed access to a legal representative from the beginning of their case and they should always be present, even at screening interviews.

Discretionary Leave

• The Solihull model of decision making for children will result in an improvement in the quality of decision making. This will guarantee that children have more certainty and stability in their lives. Discretionary leave should still have its place but should only be applicable if a child is found not have protection needs after a fair process.

 Guardianship

• Children here without their parents lack independent adult support to help them negotiate their future with so many different authorities. Sometime a ‘responsible adult’ is provided by social services but they are not in a position to carry out this wider role especially as they have a conflict of interest. A ‘Guardian’” for unaccompanied asylum seeking children should be an independent named individual who would represent the child’s best interests and amongst other things help instruct their legal representative. This idea is supported by the European commissioner for Human Rights and the children’s commissioner for the UK. The lack this kind of guardian means that the care of vulnerable accompanied asylum seeking children is often fractured and incohesive, with little communication between the different agencies in a child’s life.

Detention

• The government has recognized the need to look at alternatives to detention. The Millbank pilot - a centre in Ashford, Kent was set up as an alternative to detention to accommodate families who had been refused asylum. However an evaluation of the project by an independent charity, Migrant Helpline deemed the pilot a failure, it was never fully explained to them what was happening. The families had very little time to prepare; their legal representatives were equally unprepared and unbriefed.
• The Solihull pilot demonstrates the importance of gaining the asylum seeker’s trust in the process but the Millbank pilot failed because not enough attention was given to this aspect at the outset.
• The Hotham Mission in Australia is a good example of a non-coercive method of housing asylum seeking families in the community with good support. They show alternatives to detention which the government the government has a duty to develop more in this country.

 Age Disputes

• The Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association’s report ‘When is a Child not a Child? Examines the age assessment process in detail. The report briefly highlights some of the findings and recommendations and proposes that recommendations can be adopted.

 Poverty

• Families with children should be included in child poverty measure, their parents should be allowed to work to support them properly, entitled to same level of support including, tax credits and additional benefits as other families in recognition that there are children involved. Section 9 should be abolished.

 Conclusions

• The way we treat children is a litmus test of our society and its humanity

•  Asylum seekers include many groups that are particular vulnerable, of which children are the most vulnerable of them all.

•  It is particularly difficult for children to gain a voice, especially as the case studies in the report highlights how they are specifically excluded from government child poverty strategies and endure different treatment and support to all other children in the UK.

•  The report aims to tell the story from the children perspective, it makes grim reading and highlights the fact that: children need fair decisions, humane treatment and support.