- The Guardian,
- Wednesday August 16 2000
In the little pidgin English he can muster, Jon says it is a year since he escaped the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. "The day I arrived here was the day I thought: 'I know I will be OK'," the 15-year-old says, smiling at the memory. But there is something not quite right about his smile. He is not OK. Indeed, it took over six months to get a placement in residential care and he has still not been provided with any legal advice about his future. Should he not fight for his rights? "No," he says, shaking his head rigorously. "Too scared. I should be grateful. Anyhow, I don't know what my rights are."
Jon - not his real name - is one of a growing number of refugee children adrift in a care system that sometimes seems not to have their best interests at heart. "Whether refugees are youngsters who become separated from their families in this country, or they are unaccompanied asylum seekers, few speak out about being mistreated by our care system. It's one of the reasons it is so rife," says Selam Kidane, newly- appointed refugee project consultant at British Agencies for Adoption and Fostering. Her role in raising awareness of how refugee children in public care are treated, has been funded by the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund as part of its attempt to help a group of people who are believed by many to live in the lap of luxury, yet whose basic requirements are often denied.
Child care charity Barnardo's welcomes the potential focus. Its latest research reveals that the therapeutic, legal, educational, language and health needs of refugee children are often lacking, leaving them feeling alone and frightened. Likewise, the audit commission has found that many such youngsters do not receive the same care routinely offered to other children in need, despite having the same legal rights.
So why has a nation renowned for helping victims of countries in trouble been getting it wrong? And what is being done about it?
"Historically, there has been very little research into the needs of refugee children," says Kidane. "No research means no debate. No debate means no advocacy and no improvements. Social workers and other professionals who come into contact with refugee children are queuing up to get relevant training, but it just doesn't exist. Many don't even have awareness of asylum seekers' rights."
The result, says Nicola Wyld, legal adviser to Voice for the Child in Care, a campaign group, is that experiences such as Jon's are becoming increasingly frequent. She adds: "When refugee children are placed in care, emergency placements tend to be seen as the short-term solution. These placements often end up being extended and the young person establishes attachments, sometimes for the first time ever.
"Suddenly, however, the social worker finds a new placement in a community that meets the ethnic culture in question and the child is moved - sometimes out of the borough. On the face of it, this appears to be the right decision and certainly social workers have good intentions. But the reality is that the damage created by ruining their initial bonds can have a devastating effect. These are youngsters with emotional vulnerability that most of us cannot comprehend, and who are in urgent need of being treated with informed sensitivity."
Barnardo's argues that this knowledge gap - coupled with lack of resources - is responsible for the fact that needy refugee children may be excluded from the care system altogether. A staggering 41% of young refugees supported by London boroughs in October last year were housed in bed and breakfast accommodation, hotels or hotel annexes.
"Section 17 of the Children Act states that the local authority may provide accommodation in care for 16-21 year olds if it considers that it would safeguard or promote their welfare," says Pam Hibbert, the charity's principal policy officer. "Clearly, refugees fall into this category, yet this is often missed." She adds: "Since our report shows that many young people arrive with no paperwork, and assessments of their age are based on guesswork, it is safe to conclude that many under-16s are also excluded from care. Indeed, some fib that they're older, thinking it will get them greater rights. This, in turn, has implications for education and health care."
Since 80% of refugees who arrive in this country are aged 16-18 - and the numbers of youngsters of all ages arriving in the UK is rising faster than ever - the Refugee Council claims this is no longer an issue we can afford to ignore. "Resources and services for refugee children, as for any child in need, should be based on a full and holistic assessment of all their needs," says Judith Dennis, the council's unaccompanied children policy adviser.
Kidane claims that a severe lack of available legal advisers, as well as interpreters and translators, is largely to blame for the inability of refugee children to fight against such inadequacies. "We intend to call on the services of such people to create a forum of young refugees who will get their views heard by policy makers," she says. "It won't be easy to recruit members - particularly those from countries with oppressive regimes who have learned not to speak at all - but we are determined. We see it as the only way in which we can turn around an ugly reality."
The relentless negative press that refugees have received in recent months will no doubt prove a further obstacle, Kidane fears. The refugees do not feel supported and potential service providers, from foster carers to schools, become scared to offer their services for fear of causing unnecessary controversy.
Meanwhile, the audit commission's latest research warns that lasting improvements must be introduced urgently. It found that a mere 12% of authorities with a social services department have a refugee strategy in place, and few have any concrete plans to change that - often simply because the government's funding mechanisms are inadequate.
"There are alarming differences in how boroughs cope with care of these people, and support services outside London are particularly poor," says Shara Kulay, author of the reports. "Fewer than half of the contracted immigration law firms are outside London, for instance. And many GPs and schools are reluctant to accept asylum seekers, especially if they impose new demands on over-stretched services."
The Refugee Council agrees that time is of the essence. Dennis says: "Refugee children should be treated as children first - and refugees second."
