By Hortensia Daniels-
Asylum-seeking children held at a Kent intake unit where they are provided with inadequate welfare interviews were accidentally sent to adult detention facilities, The Eye Of Media.Com has heard.
An investigation by HM Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP) found that unaccompanied children were being held at the Kent Intake Unit (KIU) – a “cramped” facility that had no proper sleeping facilities -for 17 hours on average and often overnight with unrelated adults. The findings are both shocking and disturbing, highlighting wide level of recklessness with asylum seeking children.
Children seeking asylum in the Uk cannot expect any easy solutions, but being sent to an adult detention centre without proper sleeping facilities is not expected.
A 15 year old boy was among the 73 unaccompanied children who arrived at the KIU from June to August was one 15-year old boy who was held for over 66 hours. Of this case, the report said: “Electronic records gave no indication of detention in this case having been reviewed, when social services were called or why he was held for so long.”
Insufficient capacity to accept more unaccompanied children into its care since August has been blamed for the unfortunate situation, meaning young people faced a longer wait for social workers to arrive from other authorities.
Inspectors claim long waits for Home Office welfare interviews they are meant to receive upon arrival, with interviews for those arriving in the daytime regularly taking place in the early hours of the next morning.
The inspectors suggested the Home Office might have “lost sight of the purpose of the interviews”, which are designed to obtain information about the child’s welfare.
The report about the detention of migrants arriving in small boats in Dover and also covered other detention facilities, also found that welfare interview records were “perfunctory and demonstrated little meaningful exploration of the children’s welfare”. In some cases children were not always seen by a social worker before being sent to dispersal accommodation, with some older children sent in a taxi.
Child Asylum Seeker
In one case, an unaccompanied asylum seeker who was “clearly a child” was sent as an adult to Yarl’s Wood detention centre, without having been age assessed by a chief immigration officer (CIO). Once at Yarl’s Wood, where unaccompanied children cannot be held, he was quickly identified by staff and placed in local authority care.
In the three months before the inspection, three other detainees were transferred as adults without having had a CIO assessment and then taken into local authority care. Over 100 detainees who claimed to be children had been assessed by chief immigration officers to be adults, from June to the end of August, these cases were “very poorly documented and did not demonstrate that their cases had been considered properly”.
Also, no data was kept on the number assessed to be children, nor was the Home Office able to provide information to inspectors on the number of age assessments carried out by children’s services, or their outcomes.
The damning report follows concerns raised over Home Office guidance in relation to the work of four agency social workers it has contracted to support children at the KIU, which charities criticised for its focus on age assessments over safeguarding.
One of those charities, Social Workers Without Borders (SWWB), said of the inspection: “The facts contained within HM Chief Inspector of Prisons report speak for themselves. From June to August 2020 it is clear that there has been a catalogue of serious child safeguarding concerns resulting from Home Office practice and procedures.
“It is difficult to see that staff have kept sight of children’s safety and welfare when it is deemed legitimate to carry-out “welfare interviews” in the early hours of the morning”.
The prisons inspectorate recommended that the Home Office ensure that its practice at Dover complies with its duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of children arriving in the UK.
Recommendations
The Home Office has fully accepted both recommendations and, in a service improvement plan, published alongside the inspection report, said that it would be prioritising unaccompanied children by “ring-fencing resources” in the KIU on days of significant arrivals. The Home Office also said it would work to ensure that they are kept for no more than 24 hours.
It also said staff from its National Asylum Intake Unit would be stationed in Dover to carry out age assessments to ensure only adults are transferred to its Midlands Intake Unit.
In a statement responding to the report, the Home Office said: “We take the welfare of people in our care extremely seriously. We are fully adhering to our statutory duties to ensure our facilities are decent and humane.
“We have also improved both our facilities and the way we deal with arrivals in response to the unprecedented rise in small boat crossings… We are committed to fixing the asylum system, to make it fairer and firmer, compassionate to those who need help and welcoming people through safe and legal routes.”