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Youngsters arriving alone in Kent are handed into the county council’s care
Unaccompanied baby migrants arriving in Kent will be taken care of by Border Pressure till lodging is discovered outdoors the county.
Kent County Council has stated it can not take care of any extra under-18s after an increase in new arrivals in current months.
Asylum-seeking minors who arrive alone will keep at a Border Pressure facility in Dover earlier than being sent into native authority care, the House Workplace stated.
A refugee charity stated it was “disturbed” by the information.
Kent Refugee Motion Community (KRAN), which works immediately with younger asylum-seekers and refugees, stated Border Pressure officers “would not have the talents, expertise or {qualifications} required” to take care of “susceptible youngsters who want the specialist care of social companies”.
The House Workplace has been requested to make clear how lengthy youngsters are anticipated to be left within the care of Border Pressure.
“We don’t know if the lodging the place the youngsters will be held is appropriate, how their safeguarding will be ensured, if they are going to be allotted a social employee, or be ready to entry authorized recommendation or schooling,” stated Bridget Chapman, of KRAN.
Youngsters arriving within the UK alone are normally handed into the care of the native council, with a small quantity later transferred to different areas.
Nonetheless, Kent County Council chief Roger Gough stated on Monday it “can not safely accommodate any extra” after an increase in new arrivals, most of whom crossed the English Channel in small boats.
Discovering appropriate lodging for asylum seekers – youngsters and adults – has been a perennial drawback, notably for councils such as Kent.
Twenty years in the past the Labour authorities launched a coverage of “dispersal” to relieve the strain on London and the south-east of England by re-locating claimants to different areas of the UK. However most native authorities have refused to participate within the scheme, creating further burdens on these which do.
When lockdown started, and social distancing and hygiene measures have been put in place, the scarcity of locations turned extra acute. It is emerged that 4,000 resort rooms have been used between March and June for asylum seekers who could not safely be housed in normal lodging.
The rise in small boat crossings throughout the Channel, usually involving susceptible folks and unaccompanied youngsters, has exacerbated the difficulties, main to Kent County Council’s unprecedented announcement.
Any youngsters arriving in Dover alone will now stay within the Kent Consumption Unit – a House Workplace facility within the Port of Dover – earlier than being transferred into the care of one other council.
Mr Gough stated he had warned the House Workplace it was approaching the “unthinkable state of affairs” as its social companies neared capacity on the weekend.
The arrival of 13 extra lone youngsters on Sunday and Monday had “tipped the stability,” leaving the council unable to accommodate any new arrivals, he stated.
The House Workplace stated it was an “unprecedented state of affairs, ” including that it might “proceed to work carefully with the Division for Training and native authorities on provision for unaccompanied minors”.
In Could, the federal government elevated the quantity given to councils to take care of asylum-seeking youngsters after Mr Gough warned social companies in Kent have been liable to being overwhelmed.
He stated the decreased quantity of freight crossing the Channel due to coronavirus has led to a rise within the variety of asylum-seeking youngsters arriving in Kent by boat.
