EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

  The Refugee Children's Consortium is a group of NGOs working collaboratively to ensure that the rights and needs of refugee children are promoted, respected and met in accordance with the relevant domestic, regional and international standards.

  Members of the Refugee Members of the Refugee Children's Consortium are The Asphaelia Project, AVID (Association of Visitors to Immigration Detainees); Bail for Immigration Detainees, Barnardos, British Agencies for Adoption and Fostering (BAAF), Children's Legal Centre, Children's Rights Alliance for England The Children's Society, Families The Immigration Law Practitioners' Association (ILPA), The Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture, NCB, NCH, NSPCC, Refugee Council, Refugee Arrivals Project, and Save the Children UK. The British Red Cross, UNICEF UK and UNHCR all have observer status.

  Every child matters. Every one. Refugee children are children first and foremost and in every word of every line of every page of the Green Paper we read standards that are to be set for every child, and welcome government's taking up the challenge to deliver on them to refugee children. It is fundamental to the approach of the green paper that, if you leave some children out, those children will suffer and, moreover, every child will suffer, because the system of protection will fail. The DfES needs to be able to hold other departments accountable to its framework of actions. A good place to start would be in the next legislative session, in ensuring compatibility of all legislation with the outcomes. This is an opportunity to implement the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child recommendations to the UK on the treatment of refugee children.

  Very often it is helpful to examine refugee children as members of the different groups to which they belong: very young children; children in families; children in care; disabled children. The Green Paper, and subsequent legislation, needs to deliver for them as members of these groups. They also need to deliver for refugee children as members of groups of children facing disadvantage: for example as children living in poverty.

  None of this is to deny that, like the groups of children mentioned above, refugee children have special needs. We are pleased that the Green Paper has singled them out for special attention and hesitate only in that special attention is directed only at the unaccompanied.

  Refugee children have experienced discontinuity and exile. Those seeking asylum are living in limbo, and they and, where they have them, their families, face a complex legal process to determine that application, as well as, for those in families, unique systems to address their accommodation and living needs, and unique menaces, such as the threat of detention under immigration act powers. These are called into question by the content of this Green Paper and in our response we have sought to tease out what will need to change in existing systems if the Green Paper is to deliver for refugee children and we are truly to be able to say that we have demonstrated, throughout our legislation and practice, that every child matters.

  Our comments and recommendations are as follows (reference numbers are to sections of the Green Paper, with a number followed by a letter used where there is no corresponding paragraph in the relevant chapter of the Green Paper):

2.  STRONG FOUNDATIONS

  2.  A Building on the role of the Panel of Advisors (Consultation Question)

—  The distinction between "unaccompanied" and "accompanied" refugee children must be revisited. It fails to identify those children who, although with a person over 18, are separated from their habitual parent or carer.

—  Current legislation and practice increase the risks to all refugee children, unaccompanied, separated or in families. Changes to the existing framework are needed, as well as specialised extra support. Proper assessment must extend to all refugee children, not only the accompanied.

  2.  A.i  Assistance through the legal process

—  A named guardian should be appointed to a child by an independent statutory body within a strict time period from the date that the child makes their asylum application and before any substantive steps are taken in the determination of that application.

—  A person acting as a guardian to a refugee child must be properly experienced, trained and monitored. The system must include a complaints procedure and provision for a child to apply to change the guardian they have been appointed.

—  A strict limit must be set on how many children a guardian is responsible for. Whilst it would not be envisaged that a guardian would have regular day to day contact with a child they must be available to the child and easily contactable by him/her, and have sufficient time to build a trusting relationship with him/ her.

—  Training and availability must be uniform across the UK.

  2.  A.ii  Befriending, assistance and advocacy

—  Separated children require a continuity of assistance, befriending an advocacy from a experienced, trained, evaluated and monitored independent person, that goes beyond the valuable but time-limited service provided by the Panel of Advisors and is properly resourced.

  2.  B  Extended schools (Consultation Question)

—  Consideration must be given to ensuring that the development of extended schools does not further disadvantage children whose difficulty is in accessing mainstream education at all.

  2.1  Child poverty

—  The eradication of child poverty must mean an end to all child poverty, and that includes refugee children. We call for the end of the discriminatory separate system that keeps refugee children in poverty.

  2.12  Improving school attendance and behaviour

—  We recommend that the Newham Education guidance is publicised in schools across the country, as an example of handling mid-term admissions.

—  Segregated education is regressive and discriminatory. The government must ensure that all children have access to mainstream education.

  2.14  Raising the attainment of ethnic minority pupils

—  The recommendations in Ofsted's The Education of Refugee Pupils (October 2003) should be implemented.

—   Schools should be helped to adopt a more holistic approach to education and learning needs of refugee children, with the importance of academic achievements addressed within the wider context of the experiences of refugee children.

—  Where a child is with parents or carers, help should be available to enable and encourage those adults to engage in their children's learning process. They should have access to the full range of resources offered by full service schools.

—  Resources such as In Safe Hands and Home from Home, developed in schools with specialist experience, should be disseminated widely to schools across the country.

  2.15  Special Educational Needs

—  Greater understanding is needed of the special educational needs of refugee children, to establish support systems accordingly.

—  The model of assessment used in Enfield has been assessed as cost effective and should be replicated elsewhere.

—  All children should have access to mainstream education appropriate to their needs.

  2.22  Increasing access to primary health care and specialist health services

—  The health needs of refugee children should continue to be examined through the National Service Framework and training, consultation, supervision and support for health professionals working with these children put in place.

  2.38  Building Strong and Vibrant Communities

—  Refugee children and many others are not being allowed to become part of a strong and vibrant community. We call for clear messages of integration rather than segregation and exclusion, from the Government and properly resourced programmes to support these.

  2.44  Ensuring that children are safe

—  We reiterate our call for the abolition of the detention of children under immigration act powers, and cite in support the HMIP reports since the 2002 Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act and the observations of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child.

  2.44a  Tackling bullying

—  Include bullying of children because they are refugees in anti-bullying strategies and resources. Recognise that these resources cannot work in a vacuum: we also need concerted efforts to portray refugees and their protection positively at a national level, including by government and politicians. Such efforts are in short supply.

  2.46  Children and young people suffering from homelessness

—  Separate provision for support for refugees has led to homelessness and to refugee families living in unsuitable temporary accommodation. Refugee families should be integrated into mainstream systems of support.

—  The government's pledge that from March 2004 homeless families will not be in temporary accommodation other than in a short term emergency should be extended to cover all families, including refugee families living in B & B accommodation.

—  The denial of all support to parents in families of refugee families with no possibility of providing support to children save by separating the family is wholly at variance with the principle of the best interests of the child. Far from being extended, these powers should be repealed.

  2.50  Supporting children entering the country

—  The Home Office's Trafficking Toolkit should be disseminated more widely.

—  More child protection police officers should be stationed at ports

—  Systems for the regulation of private fostering should be improved, with a special focus on children entering the country.

—  The DfES should produce resources, guidance and training for all Social Services on the identification, care and protection of children at risk entering the country, and in particular on victims of trafficking.

—  In seeking to ensure that the Immigration Service works effectively with Social Services and the police in child protection of children entering country, the distinct roles and competencies and of the agencies involved must be recognised.

—  All children must receive a thorough needs assessment from experienced, trained professionals

—  Support for all refugee children should be delivered in accordance with DOH circular LAG 13/2003, and the Hillingdon judgment. "Safe Case Transfer" and other support systems must be judged on their ability to provide support that is in a child's best interests. There must be no a two-tier system of support for unaccompanied refugee children.

—  An adequate range of services is needed to cater for the young people who move. Local authorities must be able to plan their service provision and work strategically. They must also be adequately funded to provide the level and type of support required.

3.  SUPPORTING PARENTS AND CARERS

  3A.  Good and quality decision-making by social services (Consultation Question)

—  The default setting for support for refugee children under 18 must be, in practice as well as in law and theory, s.17 of the Children Act 1989.

—  Refugee children leaving care should receive support under the Children (Leaving Care) Act. Local authorities should receive increased funding from central government to assist them in meeting their legal obligations.

  3B.  Recruitment and retention of foster carers (Consultation Question)

—  Positive images of refugees, promoted nationally, locally and in the context of fostering can help encourage people to come forward as foster parents.

—  The knowledge that refugee children have guardians to assist them in the legal process may also give foster carers the confidence that the complex demands of supporting a child through asylum procedures will not fall on them.

  3C.  Parenting support services (Consultation Question)

—  It should be recognised that refugee children in families can be children in need.

—  Local authorities need up to date information on refugee children moving into, or within their area.

—  Universal services to support parents must be designed to be inclusive of refugee parents. This can work only if refugee parents are not barred from accessing services because they have differing entitlements. Such services can be complemented, although never replaced, by specialist services.

—  Support is needed for those who are caring for separated children.

  3D.  Disabled children: direct payments (Consultation Question).

—  Refugee families with disabled children should be able to receive direct payments.

  3.9  Young Carers

—  Appropriate support for refugee parents, and use of appropriate language support by services working with them, can reduce the inappropriate use of refugee children as interpreters.

  3.14  Improving fostering and adoption services

—  Refugee children need care plans, and support in accordance with these in their best interests. To deliver this, more funding is required.

4.  EARLY INTERVENTION AND EFFECTIVE PROTECTION

  4A  Ensuring that no children slip through the system (Consultation Question)

—  Sharing information is not enough. Dramatic differences in rights and entitlements, and the complexity these create, create risks that refugee children to slip through the system

—  To prevent refugee children slipping through the net, they must be recognised as children first and foremost, and statutory holes in the net of protection must be closed. Legislation currently before parliament should be used to bring the law on asylum into line with the government's aspirations for child protection and the promotion of children's welfare.

—  It is necessary to revisit the question of the extent to which Victoria Climbie's immigration status, and all that related to it, were factors in the failure of services to protect her and learn the lessons from this aspect of what happened to her.

  4.4  The information hub

—  Risks to refugee children of persecution in the country fled, and risks to their family members, must be addressed in designing IRT systems and access thereto.

  4.13  Common Assessment Framework

—  Refugee children, whether separated or in families, have, at a minimum, suffered exile and loss and are living in uncertainty and limbo while their right to stay in the UK is under consideration. Opportunities must be created to examine the needs of refugee children and their families and to move to further, more detailed or specialist assessment in cases where this is needed.

—  Assessments should result in action, and the action assessed as needed should be recorded. The default setting should be that refugee children, who may have little knowledge of the services available nor of their entitlements, should be made aware of the needs identified by professionals carrying out assessments and given copies of relevant assessments.

  4.18  Lead Professional

—  The lead professional should not be drawn from the Home Office.

5.  ACCOUNTABILITY AND INTEGRATION—LOCALLY REGIONALLY AND NATIONALLY

  5A  Local Safeguarding Children Boards (Consultation Question)

—  Local Safeguarding Children boards should have responsibilities toward all refugee children in their area, for whatever reason the children are found there, and in whatever establishment they are living.

  5.4  National Fragmentation

—  The DfES outcomes framework and the best interests of the child principle should provide the framework within which other departments such as the Home Office must operate when dealing with refugee children at all stages of their cases. Compliance by other departments with the framework must be ensured before policies are put into practice or operational changes made, and be monitored.

  6.  Workplace reform

—  Clear accountabilities, manageable caseload, and adequate training, support, supervision and remuneration must be complemented by work to promote positive images of refugees, both nationally and locally

November 2004