Age assessments for unaccompanied asylum seeking

bestride quantifyments for alone founding pursuitDISSERTATIONAge appraisals for alone introduction quest children Policy, law and implications for affectionate last.AbstractMethodologyLiterature ReviewChapter unrivalled IntroductionChapter Two Unaccompanied Asylum SeekersChapter Three Age credence Policy, Legislation and PracticeChapter Four Conclusion and Recommendations.Unaccompanied safety seeking children hail in the UK seeking refuge from often-horrific events in their home countries. The reception of both national g overning and local anaesthetic anesthetic government activity to this influx has been superior generally unsatisfactory with campaigners arguing that the focus has been on cutting costs and removing fresh asylum searchers rather than providing them with the c atomic number 18 that they be entitled to. This study suggests that indemnity and pull around fester perspicacity is central to this argument. at that place is crucial reaso n that local governance atomic number 18 pressurising sociable players to eld evaluate children as older than they atomic number 18 in order to save them gold. The squashy way in which come on opinions keep usually been carried out only serves to encour advance this behaviour. Even without financial pressure, the lack of a standard uprise to come along judgment is similarly leading to inconsistencies when hop on sound judgments ar congeal into practiceThe focus of this dissertation has been to analyse how, why and when jump on assessments be employ in performanceing marooned asylum seekers and examine whether the serve is fair and consistent. The ruleology has primarily to adopt secondary sources and evaluate evidence from as wide a range of viewpoints as possible. The dissertation has been aimed towards a conclusion that the current process is unsatisfactory and has attempted to deliver recommendations that could purify the process.Literature for this dis sertation has been ga thered from a combination of academic books and journals, government ordinaryations, reports produced by independent datencies and articles from newspapers and magazines including The Guardian and Community Care. wholeness of the most exposit reports on the subject of assessment is the 2007, When is a child not a child? Asylum, long condemnation disputes and the process of mature assessment by Crawley. much of the f actual detail about the actual mechanics of days assessment has been gathered from this source.Of academic journals, the articles written by Kohli oblige been most facilitative as they delivering the results and analysis from a wide range of studies around solely asylum seekers.Each year, approximately 3000 unaccompanied children and boylike people nonplus in the UK to seek asylum.1 Many of these are subject to age assessment to clarify that they are entitled to function available to vulnerable children in the UK. The age of people claiming to be children great track be dispute by a range of professionals, from immigration incumbents to police and affable workers.It is weighty to set what an age assessment actually is at the beginning of this study. An age assessment is he method used by either the UK border and in-migration Agency or local authority affable emoluments departments to assess the age of an asylum seeker.2 in that respect is currently no method that is capable of de desexualiseate the exact age of a child and the accuracy of the assessment exit often be produced within a range of both old age over or below the assessment age.3Some commentators have argued that some(prenominal) local authorities have proactively looked to avoid the cost of looking later on lady friendish asylum seekers in neediness and have set up control measures to keep children aged 16-18 out of the territory.4 unity of the mechanisms for doing this has been attempts by complaisant workers to stop classifyi ng unaccompanied minors as children. There have been suggestions that galore(postnominal) friendly workers became preoccupied with attempting to assess the age of appli keepts rather than providing serve and that much(prenominal)(prenominal) an assessment was crude exercise based on the individual opinion of a single mixer worker. As Kohli writesstudies account a growth disbelief in respect of those claiming to be under 18 and the sermon of anyone over 16 old age as a de facto adult allowed access to food and shelter merely miniature else.5Professionals working in the highest echelons of child care have expressed similar concerns, for example the Childrens Commissioner Sir Al Aynsley commons has statedAlthough Home Office Policy is for the immigration officer to arrest the benefit of the doubt in favour of the appli whoremongert in perimeter depicted objects, the evidence suggests that in practice this is frequently not adhered to. The result is that a substantial num ber of asylum seekers who are in fact unaccompanied children are excluded from the protection of domestic care regimes6Government policy from the archaean part of the decade has been to work in partnership with local authorities and disperse asylum seekers of all ages around the country. The Home Office negotiated contracts with a number of authorities to receive and accommodate asylum seekers.7There in any bailiwick is evidence to donjon this. Central government has since 2005 looked to change the role of social work aggroups at ports of immersion to work practically as adjuncts to the bunt and Immigration Agency, deliberately narrowing the fracture betwixt immigration and social services functions. There is distinctly a financial motivation for this in 2005 the 6000 unaccompanied asylum seeking children offered services by local authorities comprised less than 10% of cases further used up approximately 25% of the Home Office budget.8 fond work teams have been set ster ns in call of handing away age dispute asylum seekers and assessing clients claiming to be 15 as older.9This study looks at how the UK deals with unaccompanied asylum seekers and in especial(a) examines policy and practice around age assessment. Chapter two focuses on the code in place and policy around it whilst chapter three looks more than specifically at the age assessment processes and the general failings of the body in the UK. Chapter foursome concludes with recommendations on improving the systemUnaccompanied asylum seeking children arrive in the UK for a number of reasons. A recent study of 218 arrivals put that half came from countries undergoing armed conflict or serious disturbances and over two fifths were victims of direct or indirect persecution. Deprivation, poverty or trafficking for exploitation were some other primary reasons for seeking asylum.10Dealing with asylum seeking children, either with or without their families is a growing area of social work practice yet one in which there is relatively little understanding of the demand or circumstances of much(prenominal) children.11In legislative terms, legislation such as The Childrens identification number 1989 and The Framework for the Assessment of Children in deficiency and their Families remain central to issues around assessment and care for asylum-seeking children and they should also be included under the remit of the Every Child Matters agenda. The Children and Young stacks Plan 2005 for example makes reference to joint working between housing and social care bodies to meet the housing needs of unaccompanied asylum seekers. 12For local authorities, there is a duty to provide services necessary to safeguard and promote the tumefy- cosmos of any children deemed to be in need under the Children present 1989. Due to the absence of their parents, unaccompanied children are classed as vulnerable and therefore in need. The Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 also r einforces the local authority duty to support unaccompanied minors.It is doful to have a clear definition of what an unaccompanied asylum seeker actually is. The Immigration and Nationality Directorate definition is a young mortal under the age of 18(or who appears to be if there is no proof) who is applying for asylum in his or her own right and who has no adult relative or guardian to turn to within the UK.13The age of an unaccompanied asylum seeker has historically been an important factor in respect of the Special naming that the Home Office made available to unaccompanied minors. Prior to 2004 there were two levels of support available, with those supported under the age of 16 receiving a higher level and those first supported at age 16 or 17 receiving half that amount.14 However, a judicial review the Hillingdon sound judgement carried out in 2004 has heartyly increased the impact on local authorities. The judgement ruled that, except in exceptional cases, all asylum-se eking children must be set under section 20 of the Childrens Act 1989 which classes them as looked subsequently children. 15There is intelligibly an impact on service provision for both national and local government. Watters writes that the arrival of significant add up of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children through the port of Dover thus presented very significant challenges to social care, health and education providers in the south east. 16 Asylum seekers who after the assessment process became looked after children would be entitled to foster or residential placements, an allocated social worker and financial support. They whitethorn also have qualified for the benefits of leaving care status up to the age of 21, a further financial burden on local authorities.The question of age then is a crucial issue for local authorities. Many young people seeking asylum do not have prescribed papers or archiveation confirming their age so practitioners in both social services and i mmigration have difficult decisions to make.It can be difficult to draw indata formattingion from asylum seeking children investigate shows that when they are asked about reasons for their asylum request, they try and fit their stories into the narrow format that they believe are acceptable in their given country.17This in turn can lead to scepticism amongst officials and social workers, the same research reported instances of social services personnel being cynical about young Kosovan and African males claiming to be younger than they looked and thus worrying that their services were being exploited and their resources drained.18Ultimately, age assessment is a crucial tool for immigration officials and social workers. There are asylum seekers who try to abuse the system, so a method of asserting age is required. When the current practices serve this designing will be discussed in chapter three.When and WhyMost age disputes in asylum cases occur when an asylum seeker first applie s for asylum, normally at their port of entry.19There is little in the way of statuesque assessment at this point, age disputes will be lodged primarily based on the backside of appearance, demeanour and documentation. Another issue of contention is the range of individuals or professionals that might dispute the age of an asylum seeker this can include immigrations officials, social workers or police officers. accessible workers may even dispute the age of a child who had not been queried by immigration officials.Age disputes may happen several months or even years after a child has entered the country. Crawley quotes a case study of a young girl who had been brought into the country at a young age to be used as a domestic slave. When immigration officials became aware of her quintet years later still under the age of 16 she was age disputed before eventually chance onn into the care of a social services department.20In contrast, many young people, perhaps some who are ov er 18, slip through the net and are classed as minors. Many social services departments simply do not have the resources to undertake formal age assessments and have concerns about the impact of multiple call into questions and assessment on young asylum seekers. As such, decisions are made not to interrogative sentence age.Policy and Legislative frameworkHome Office policy in terms of unaccompanied minors is set out in policy documents including Policy bulletin 33, Guidance from processing applications from children and Guidance on age disputed cases 3rd ed which lays out specific procedures for professionals who dispute a claimants age and believe that it is an adult claiming to be a child.One of the most interesting aspects of policy and perhaps the most controversial in the light of what appears to be happening is that the INDs guidance on age disputed cases states clearly that when there is an age dispute a claimant must be given the benefit of the doubt with regards to their age unless their physical appearance strongly suggests that they are aged 18 or over.21It seems that this is not the case currently in practice local authorities certainly are encouraging social work team to dispute age more regularly.Other aspects of the IND guidance can be confusing and it is not impress that there are inconsistencies in practice. For example there is no actual duty for immigration officers to refer age disputed cases to the appropriate local authority, rather this is something that should be done in principle, a location that can only complicate things for social workers further down the line. Overall, the current system seems disjointed and variable. As Crawley writesThere is evidence of a significant gap between what is supposed to happen and to what happens in practice22 and some of the issues involves at age assessment units around the country highlight thisA general lack of care, including a lack of food and water, for young people time lag to be scree nedA failure to use the privacy of separate interview roomsDifficulties with microphones meaning conversations held through the glass screen in the public area are either overheard or not heard at all No responsible adult being present to support young person23Clearly age assessment is not a unbiased matter. All children vary in development, maturity and natural growth and there can be a wide range of supposed normal findings at mingled ages. It is extremely difficult to accurately gather a young persons age and things such as race, ethnicity and local conditions such as disease and malnutrition have to be considered in any assessment. Whether childrens social workers are qualified to do this is questionable The organisation Youth incite which assists young refuges reports that in its own age assessment process it includes as many factors as possible includingheight, weight, body mass, shoe size, developmental factors such as skin care and teeth, sexual development mental and un restrained age estimates including thought processes and general concepts. Also of great importance is the story and social milestones which the young person might have experienced again talking culture and religion into consideration.24There is clearly inconsistency in the process nationwide. Michie argues that one of the problems in the UK has been that a diversity of systems and guidelines has developed in assessing the age of unaccompanied minors, involving a combination of history collection, physical anthropometry and radiographs. He writesTheir lack of uniformity identifies an underlying difficulty there is no method by which chronological age can be precisely estimated in this age group. Paediatricians in the United Kingdom care for small song of individuals in late adolescence and early adulthood in graduate outpatient services, but often have little experience in this area.25There are some success stories. At Heathrow Airport for example, Hillingdon Social Services hav e used a number of strategies to deal with large volumes of unaccompanied asylum seekers. These have included use of a dedicated police officer for child protection, a specific questionnaire for staff working at final stage 3 and the development of a specifics age assessment tool feature with specific training,.26Guidance for Social wreak PracticeAge assessment is clearly a difficult area for social work practitioners. There is little experience in this type of work and relatively little in the way of practice guidelines. The guidance drawn up by the Childrens Legal Centre is perhaps the most reclaimable document for social workers to refer to when carrying out age assessments. Some of the points included areTaking account of ethnicity, culture and customs of the person being assessed and well as the level of trauma, tiredness, anxiety and bewilderment presentThe asylum seeker may have had coaching prior to arrival. It is important for the social work to engage with the person i n a process sometimes cognise as joining.The assessment framework should be led by open, non-leading questionsThe practitioner should note the verbal and non-verbal (body language) behaviour of the personA useful indicator is if the person seems uncomfortable talking to an adultA little family tree with ages of parents and siblings can jockstrap assessing likely ageQuestions about the activities and roles a person was have-to doe with in prior to entering the UK can be a good indicatorSocial workers may consider system for the person to be put in a social situation with people of the age stated and observing interactionGaining detailed accounts of educational history can be a valuable source of culture in making an accurate age assessment Assessment of flavor skills is useful does the person have any experience of living independently, managing money etc27All of the above can be done in colligation with opinion and input from other sources including foster carers, teachers, doctors, interpreters and residential workers. It is useful also to have input from paediatricians, dentists or optician although a social worker should take into account advice from paediatricians that there can be a fivesome year error in age assessments.28Just as important is information and best practice sharing between professional involved in this type of work. A uniform approach to age assessment crossways the UK should be a shared objective.There are clearly huge improvements necessary in the way that social service departments across the country deal with unaccompanied asylum seekers. This includes both the process for age assessment and the subsequent services provided. Evidence shows that staff in the various agencies relations with these children lack knowledge about the services available and how to deal with the emotional trauma that many of these children will have experienced.29Social workers dealing with age assessments are clearly lacking in the skills to do so accurately. One reported when surveyedWe do them (age assessments) but we can be wrong five years either side it matters a lot doesnt it? They can end up with many dates of birth social services, Home Office, their own..30Practitioners need such understand the vulnerability of the young people they are dealing with and avoid taking a cynical approach. As Michie concludesThe fairness, soundity and estimable base of any national framework for age assessment has to take into account legal history, jurisprudence as well as the paediatric wisdom, What if this were my child?, Although it may be difficult to quantify the inadequacies of the current system, it clearly compounds abuse to a vulnerable group of children. We must do better.31The are some positives in examining the UK solution to unaccompanied asylum seekers . The more holistic approach developed in recent years seems to be more efficient are more aware of the sensitivities of the issues than for example the US and Australi an governments. Bhaba et al write of the UKIt has made extensive efforts to identify children in bona fide need at the earliest possible stage and to institute programmes to target trafficking in children through training of in country border officials and the abetment of research. 32This is a pleasing sign, yet problems still occur when age is disputed.RecommendationsThere are a number of steps that can be taken to improve the way in which young asylum seekers are treated to ensure consistency. Protection of vulnerable children is crucial, yet it is also important that age assessments can be used to identify asylum seekers over the age of 18 who seek to abuse the system. The EUs reception directive states that unaccompanied children seeking asylum should be appointed a legal guardian33 and this should be adopted by the UKHelping vulnerable children through the process would be a welcome improvement.Trained, skilled age assessors should be employed at ports of entry. These may w ell be social workers, experienced in dealing with this age group, accountable to a child protection team with paediatric expertise open to them in some form. Another survival of the fittest would be to establish fully trained multi agency teams based in regional assessment centres, something that would produce holistic and better-informed outcomes.Ideally age assessors should be financially independent of local authority social services this would limit the chance of pressure being put upon assessors to reach targets for the number of age assessments found to be 18+.The lack of statutory guidance on the process of age assessment should also be addressed this would help alleviate some of the inconsistencies in the process.A final recommendation, supported by Crawley, would be for the age assessment process to be overlooked by an independent age assessment panel which could provide support and guidance, help with the auditing process and make it less likely that decisions could be challenged or make for by those holding the local authority purse strings.The most important thing is that age assessment is done fairly and consistently, and that young asylum seekers are treated in the same way, regardless of port of entry or the local authority overseeing them. At present this is not the case and there is work for legislators, policy makers and practitioners to do if this is to be rectified.BibliographyBhaba J, Finch N, Crock M Schmidt S, Seeking Asylum Alone, Themis Press 2006 tag e, Emotional Well-being of asylum seeking children, http//www.communitycare.co.uk/Articles/2008/07/29/108994/well-being-of-asylum-seeking-children.html accessed 15 OctoberChildrens Legal Centre, Practice Guidelines for age assessment of young unaccompanied asylum seekers, http//www.childrenslegalcentre.com/NR/rdonlyres/BAA6E134-7810-42C1-9634-2AC500D326DE/0/PracticeNotesKarenGoodman.pdf accessed 15 OctoberCrawley, H, When is a child not a child? 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