Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children - Essay Example

 Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children Introduction: Across the world a great number of children are compelled to seek asylum. Such young individuals are usually vulnerable and traumatized as they are separated from their homeland and families due to domestic violence and in most cases their parents are unknown. These children are under 18 years and are left unaccompanied by those who are responsible for their take care by law or custom (CFAB 2012). Hence, the term unaccompanied excludes those who migrant to the new state with their parents. These children become unaccompanied because they are being forcibly separated from their care takers as a result of unfortunate events beyond control. Unfortunately these children have to seek asylum because they have genuine need of support, safety, protection in order to flee hounding in their native lands. Such asylum seekers reach UK in a way that most of them are trafficked to the UK for sexual, labour or other forms of exploitation or they sometimes seek escape from their home land and accidently arrive there (The Children's Legal Centre 2012). This paper aims to evaluate issues faced by these asylum seekers particularly, in context of physical and mental torture they go through. Additionally, we shall highlight role of UK governmental sectors and legislations dealing with the problems and life standard issues of these unaccompanied asylum seekers children in the UK. Since the dramatic immigration of Norman Conquest in 1066, millions of people from all over the world have flock to the UK. However, since 1645 immigration to the UK has become substantial under the immigration laws of the state. Among these immigrants, a great number of people including children are categorized as asylum seekers seeking protection under the UN's 195 refugee convention. The circumstances and basic needs of young unaccompanied asylum seekers reflect various characteristics of other British children and in many other aspects their needs are different. It should be noted that these unaccompanied asylum seekers are not solely separated from their family and relatives, but also from their community or country of origin. Most of them seek escape and asylum from social, political, cultural, religious, and other types of persecution resulting from wars and serious conflicts (The Children's Legal Centre 2012). Their past experiences could vary from physical abuse to emotional torture including rape, harassment, beating, and killing of other or even family members. It is noteworthy that some of them might be sent to the UK for various opportunities like education, job, welfare or protection under maintained state laws. Their attitude towards UK’s treatment for such children is unpredictable; in fact it is difficult to understand that what these minor groups from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Iraq, Iran and other Asian countries expect from UK’s regulatory bodies (The Children's Legal Centre 2012). Basic Statistics: Every year several unaccompanied children migrant to the UK as asylum seekers, among them mostly come from Afghanistan followed by Iraq, Iran and other Asian countries. Applications from these asylum seekers result in granted asylum, humanitarian protection or discretionary Leaves. The following chart shows the number of applications been received within four years and number of migrants granted asylum, humanitarian protection or discretionary leave. Asylum appeals received and determined for main applicants Source: (Home Office 2012) This chart shows that the ratio of asylum seekers who have been allowed residency in the UK has dropped, but still ratio of those who have been dismissed and withdrawn remained close within past four years. Age dispute is the major reason behind rejection and dismissed of the children seek asylum in the UK. It has been noticed that the UK border Agency disputes the age of some children applicant due to their age factor. Likewise, in 2011 approximately 374 children were age disputed, it a decrease of 24% in comparison with 2010 statistics in which 489 were age disputed. It is noteworthy here, that out of 374 children 30% were from Afghanistan and every year, nationals of Afghanistan are age-disputed, may be due to their mature looks, height, and mature body structures (Home Office 2012). Age assessment protocol is provided to these unaccompanied children who claim to be less than 18 years, but do not have any documentary evidence to prove their original age. Screening process is carried out which includes various approaches, some of the mostly used approaches are dental age assessments, x-rays reports, paediatrician’s report, evidence of age from visa applications, travel or identity documents (Home Office 2012, ILPA 2012). Further, it should be noted that social workers assessing these children during age disruption procedure are responsible for providing observations based on behaviour, interaction and self care skills of each individual. Also, social workers uphold an idea that apart from official procedures of age assessment these children should be judged on the observations regarding relations with others, proves of anxiety, worries, being feared or harmed. Impact on UASC: Unaccompanied asylum seeker children are badly and deeply influenced by the circumstances they have to go through in the new state due to dispersal, destitution, divided family, community deprivation, cultural, religion and language change. Language change leads these children towards more perplexities as they find it difficult to communicate with others and express about their needs and feelings (Wirtz 2009). Children going through asylum processes often feel left alone, confuse, and unsecure. They are subject to a religion and traditions of disbeliefs because of an entire change in the environment. Many asylum seekers mostly from Afghanistan show symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder due to home sickness and deprivation from friendly or known environment (Nandy 2007). Children from Iran, Iraq, and Afghanistan are mostly those who represent the largest group of unaccompanied asylum seekers in the UK. It should be considered at the foremost place that these children experience war related traumas in their home land and many other life threatening situations during their travel to the UK (McGregor 2012). Due to such experiences and flashbacks of tragic events put these children at higher risk of mental disorders including hypertension, depression, stress, concentration difficulties, and sleep disorders etc. These children are often malnourished and subjected to diseases like TB, Malaria, Hepatitis B or C, Aids, and other intestinal parasite diseases that are not even common in the UK (Simmonds and Merredew 2010). Support Programs and Legislations for UASC: In the UK, support programs for catering needs of unaccompanied asylum seeking children are managed by Local Authority Social Service Department (LASSD). Currently, according to Children Act 1989 section 23C an unaccompanied asylum seeking child is now a former relevant child. Hence, Local Authority Social Service Department has a responsibility of providing support to an under 18 years individual who has lost contacts and falls under category of refugees, HP, DL or exceptional leave to remain in the state (UKBA 2012). Section 17 and 20 of the Act 1989 also deal with rights and protection of the children, and these laws are applicable for all children irrespective of their immigration status. Section 17 defines a child in need as “one who is unlikely to achieve or maintain, or have the opportunity of achieving or maintaining, a reasonable standard of health or development without the provision of services by a Local Authority” (Legislation 2012). Section 20 of the Act places a duty on a Local Authority to “look after” a child in need. Asylum seeking children have a right to get benefits from all services, support and care they need to be nourished and looked after. It considerably includes an arrangement of the place that could suit them best and can meet their basic needs of life (Hutton 2000). Furthermore, Section 27 deals with the health related issues of the children, who may be suffering from harm. This section imposes duties on local author and health authorities to assist such children facing different health related problems. Additionally, it has been observed that “A Guide for Social Workers undertaking a Comprehensive Assessment (1988) is used by social workers to deal with long term child cases (Hutton 2000). As a part of support program, anti-discriminatory and anti-oppressive policies are being promoted in a way that professionals dealing with UASC are trained to help and mentor these children. For faith and culture awareness, regulatory bodies arrange training courses to enable social workers in order to be respectful and aware of how better illustrate non-discriminatory and anti-oppressive services. Future Plans: Governmental and other regulatory authorities are planning to make further improvements in plans and programs specialized for asylum seeking children in the UK. Key reforms of the UK Border Agency include better approaches for identification of victims of trafficking, transfer of UASC under custody of especially programmed authorities, betterment in age assessment processes and most importantly speeding up of all procedures for UASC (Newport 2012). Furthermore, it has observed that Newcastle Safeguarding Children Board website will be launched to support communication as a source of receiving relevant information about safeguarding and child protection. Ongoing performance of Families First (FF) and Family Contact Service (FCS) will be monitored and FF will be developing a robust performance management tool and reporting system in next few months. National roll out plan for Integrated Family Support Team (IFST) has been planned in April 2013 to develop new areas (Newport 2012). Conclusion: Concisely, it can understood that flow of asylum seeking children in the UK is considerably high and most probable reason behind this flow is the conception of better safety and life opportunities in the state. However, these unaccompanied asylum seeking children confront innumerable problems and it has always been a challenging task for regulatory bodies of the UK government to deal with their issues. Various plans and programs are already in practice for better assessment and protection of these children, but still government is seeking to improve these plans in the future. List of References CFAB, 2012. Asylum seekers. [Online] Available at: [Accessed 30 December 2012]. Home Office, 2012. Assessing age. [Online] Available at: [Accessed 30 December 2012]. Home Office, 2012. Asylum part 2: appeals, unaccompanied asylum-seeking children, age disputes and dependants. [Online] Available at: [Accessed 30 December 2012]. Hutton, J., 2000. Framework for the Assessment of Children in Need and their Families, London: The Stationery Office. ILPA, 2012. When is a child not a child?. [Online] Available at: [Accessed 30 December 2012]. Legislation, 2012. Children Act 1989. [Online] Available at: [Accessed 30 December 2012]. McGregor, K., 2012. Asylum-seeking children face ‘culture of doubt’ in the UK. [Online] Available at: [Accessed 30 December 2012]. Nandy, L., 2007. Going it alone, London: The Children's Society. Newport, 2012. Evidence Grid 2011/12: Children in Need. [Online] Available at: [Accessed 4 January 2013]. Simmonds, J. & Merredew, F., 2010. The Health Needs of Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children and Young , London: British Association for Adoption and Fostering. The Children's Legal Centre, 2012. Information on Separated and Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children. [Online] Available at: [Accessed 30 December 2012]. UKBA, 2012. Grant Instructions to Local Authorities, London: UK Border Agency. Wirtz, L., 2009. Hidden Children –separated children at risk, London: The Children’s Society. Read More