Social Services: Inspection of Planning, Decision Making & Safeguards for Children Looked After - London Borough of Hillingdon 6

Social Services: Inspection of Planning, Decision Making & Safeguards for Children Looked After - London Borough of Hillingdon 6 - 22 January 1999

Quotes:

Mentioning 'asylum seekers' and 'unaccompanied asylum seeking children'

"Implementing procedures

2.31 Practice guidance on asylum seekers should be amended to include more detail on dealing with age, and then be launched and implemented by all staff. (See 5.5)

2.32 Consideration should be given to the ways in which expertise on asylum seekers could be brought together and shared more widely among practitioners. (See 7.4)

4.7 Two thirds of children looked after were accommodated on a voluntary basis under section 20 of the Children act 1989. Many of these were asylum seekers. Hillingdon’s figures on this were amongst the highest in London.

5.6 None of the social work staff that we interviewed were aware of the practice guidance on unaccompanied asylum seeking children although it was in the operational procedures. This was compounded by the fact that copies of operational procedures were not available to individual staff. Some teams had developed their own guidance on dealing with asylum seekers. All staff struggled with the complex issues of determining the age of some young people. Many told us that young people over 18 had been
accommodated, some of these because staff felt uncertain about the right steps to take. It is important that the otherwise comprehensive guidance is amended to include this advice and then properly launched and implemented by all staff. Training events would assist this process and would benefit from drawing on the extensive experience of some front line staff in working with asylum seekers.

Identity and Equality

Area based specialists and others with expertise in working with asylum seekers had become dispersed. The approaches taken to these children varied as result.

There was insufficient attention to the emotional needs of young people. This was particularly evident in some work with asylum seekers.

Recommendations - Identity and Equality

Greater attention should be given to the emotional needs of young people. Consideration should be given to the ways in which expertise on asylum seekers can be brought together and shared more widely among practitioners.

Safety in Care Planning and Placement Practice

10.3 Children were commonly involved in thinking about their care plan, although three asylum seekers had a limited understanding about what their plan contained. Not all had their own copy, and two were particularly anxious about their futures, not least because of the extreme levels of change, loss and turbulence they had already experienced and their lack of knowledge about the ‘care system’. In one case, a link worker had also indicated their disagreement with the plan which added to the anxiety. It is particularly important to ensure that a comprehensive approach to ensuring these young people understand their plans is adopted."

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Source: http://www.doh.gov.uk/