1. BIG ISSUE
10 | Winter 2016 | Issue 164
like us on facebook
facebook.com/thefosteringnetwork flike us on facebook
facebook.com/thefosteringnetwork f
A strong Iraqi man crying as he clutches his children to his chest
after reaching a Greek shore.The body of a three-year-old boy
in a red t-shirt lying lifeless, cold and wet on aTurkish beach.The
squalor of the tents standing in the mud in the Calais Jungle.
These images burned into our minds as the scale of the
suffering of millions of people from disintegrating states in
the Middle East and Africa became clearer in the second half
of 2015. Europe was in the midst of a humanitarian crisis,
with vast numbers fleeing conflict and poverty, and pleading
with us to help.
In early September, prime minister David Cameron promised
that 20,000 Syrian refugees would be welcomed to Britain over
the next five years. He spoke in parliament of giving priority to
orphans in a ‘modern equivalent to Kindertransport’, when the
country gave sanctuary to Jewish children during the Second
World War.
The fostering world took particular notice of this. Foster
carers – with their experience of supporting children who’ve
survived unimaginable horrors, their training in trauma and
attachment, and with spare rooms ready to accept a new
arrival – were keen to step in.The Fostering Network
received a number of calls to its helpline from
both existing and potential foster carers
asking how they could foster an
unaccompanied asylum seeker, and they
spoke to numerous media outlets about
the situation.
There was a powerful wave of
goodwill from inside and outside of the
fostering sector, but to do the best for the
children who need our help, it is necessary
to analyse the reality of the situation.
Resettlement and other routes
David Cameron’s September announcement set in motion
an expansion of an existing small resettlement scheme for
Syrians.The reality is, however, that relatively few Syrian
unaccompanied asylum seeker children will arrive in the
UK as a result of this scheme. But people from Syria, Iraq,
Eritrea,Afghanistan, Pakistan and many other countries are still
packing into overflowing dinghies, traffickers are pushing
teenagers into trucks which bump across north African deserts,
and young men are jumping into lorries at Calais.Through these
routes, children are arriving in the UK alone, with no family or
friends, and their numbers are increasing.
The figures
According to Home Office figures (November 2015), the
number of asylum applications in the UK by unaccompanied
children has risen sharply. In 2013, there were 1,265 applications.
This increased by more than 50 per cent to nearly 2,000 in
2014.And by the end of the third quarter of 2015, there had
already been nearly 2,000 applications.
The largest number of unaccompanied children, at the
moment, come from Albania, followed by Eritrea and
Afghanistan. Syria is in fourth place, with numbers increasing fast.
In 2014, 90 per cent of unaccompanied children were over 14,
and 88 per cent were boys.
This flow of children is putting pressure on particular local
authorities in England. Kent County Council – where young
people arrive through the Port of Dover and Eurotunnel – has
seen the number of unaccompanied children in its care increase
from 220 in March 2014 to nearly 1,000 by December 2015
(most are in foster care) and it’s now at breaking point.
According
to Home Office
figures (November 2015),
the number of asylum
applications in the UK by
unaccompanied children has
risen sharply...by the end of
the third quarter of 2015,
there had already been
nearly 2,000
applications.
REFUGEThousands of people want to help children fleeing war
and poverty in parts of the Middle East andAfrica.But
how do we turn expressions of goodwill into practical
action?And what are the implications for foster carers
and fostering services? Julie Pybus investigates
SAFE

2. follow us on twitter
@fosteringnett
BIG ISSUE
Issue 164 | Winter 2016 | 11
follow us on twitter
@fosteringnett
Under current rules the authority where children are found
must assume responsibility for them, although others can
volunteer to help, and the newly announced Government
relocation process means that other local authorities can take
on full responsibility for a child. It is very likely that this voluntary
arrangement (which had seen other councils take on full
statutory responsibility for 42 of Kent’s children by December
last year) will become mandatory if the number of
unaccompanied asylum seeking children arriving in the UK
carries on increasing. Indeed, Peter Oakford, Kent’s cabinet
member for specialist children’s services, has appealed for a
nationwide dispersal scheme to relieve the pressure on Kent.
The enthusiasm for fostering
In spite of the logistical problems, Kent is positive about the
unaccompanied children it cares for. Oakford says:‘These
children have got a smile on their face. But when you find out
about their stories, their journey here, you wonder how they
have such a bright outlook on life. One thing is clear, they’ve left
war-torn zones, they’ve left behind horrific experiences and
they’re here to start a new life.They all want to get on in life
and have professional careers.’
And speaking to foster carers with experience of looking
after unaccompanied children elicits similar responses.With the
enormous desire to do something to help, foster carers and
potential foster carers are surely part of the solution.
In September, journalistTobyYoung launched a petition to ask
the Government to‘allow British people to foster the
unaccompanied children currently languishing in European
refugee camps’. His underlying argument was that there should
be a fast track to get children into family homes quickly, rather
than having‘to spend a year being interviewed by politically
correct local council officers’ in order to become foster carers.
His petition (on Change.org) has been signed by nearly 2,400
people.
However, the rigorous selection and pre-approval training
process of foster carers is there for a very good reason – to
ensure that children get the very best care, from trustworthy
people. Furthermore, children arriving from conflict zones
may present complex challenges, including lack of English,
Chris is an experienced carer for a London borough.
He is currently looking after two boys,a 17-year-old
from Eritrea,and a 16-year-old from Albania.
‘When Dejan (not his real name) arrived from Eritrea he had
a plastic bag with one or two items of dirty clothing,some flip
flops and a mobile phone with no SIM card.We took him to
the shops on his first night and the only things he recognised
in the supermarket were eggs,bread,chicken,milk and Coca
Cola.We communicated with gestures.
‘He was absolutely delighted to be in England and we got him
on to an English course.Gradually,I learned that he was
trafficked over the border of Eritrea where they have a shoot-
to-kill policy,then he crossed the Sahara in the back of a
truck,then the Mediterranean in a boat.He spent some time
in the Jungle at Calais and then ended up with me.
‘One of the most important things for him is going to
Eritrean services at church on a Sunday.He has met
people he remembered from the Jungle and other teenage
boys.He gets a huge amount of emotional comfort from that.
‘I worry that he sometimes spends too much time with his
own community rather than integrating more and practising
his English.He says he wants to be a mechanic and he needs
English at a certain level to get onto a vocational course.
‘It’s important to put yourself in their shoes though.You have
to bear in mind what it would be like to be a teenager,to not
be able to see your family and to have been through this
terrible journey.We are all uncomfortable with uncertainty –
and the future for these young people is very uncertain.’
Chris’s
story
Photograph:DanielEtter/NewYorkTimes/Redux/eyevine

3. BIG ISSUE
12 | Winter 2016 | Issue 164
like us on facebook
facebook.com/thefosteringnetwork flike us on facebook
facebook.com/thefosteringnetwork f
the most experienced foster carers who have the skills to be
able to best meet the needs of an unaccompanied asylum
seeker child.
‘Fostering services who have a significant number of
unaccompanied asylum seekers will need to be working with
their existing pool of foster carers to give them the tools to
care for an unaccompanied child, and may need to recruit new
foster carers to fill the gaps.We would ask any foster carers
who think they might have the skills, experience and willingness
to look after a young person who has arrived in the UK
unaccompanied to let their fostering service know.We would
also ask fostering services to ensure that their carers are trained
and equipped to deal with the particular challenges of meeting
the needs of these children.’
What the future holds?
The people who work at the coalface of fostering services
don’t know how the decisions that politicians will take in the
coming months will affect the children that they are given
responsibility for, but many are preparing for more
unaccompanied children.
Oxfordshire County Council’s adoption, permanence and
fostering service manager,Teresa Rogers, says that there have
been peaks and troughs in the number of unaccompanied
children in the authority’s care in recent years. In September,
there were 48, mainly from Eritrea,Afghanistan and Albania, and,
she points out, some of the children are younger than before,
with one boy arriving who was only eight.
‘I have no idea about what we’ll see in the future, but we
need to be prepared because it takes time to approve carers,’
she says.
In Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council, fostering support
worker Colette Perkins says there has been a big increase in the
numbers of unaccompanied children arriving since April 2015.
These are mostly older boys from Afghanistan, although, like
Rogers, Perkins has noticed younger children arriving.
Ideally, Perkins says, they’d like to find foster families that are
a cultural match with children, so they are recruiting from
surrounding areas where there are more people of different
ethnicities. Having said that, she points out there are excellent
foster carers who work hard to help young people meet their
cultural needs, even if they are different from their own.
Whatever their background, all foster carers of
unaccompanied asylum seeker children will require supporting
and resourcing to help extremely traumatised children.
An ongoing issue
Children who are frightened, hungry and exhausted will
continue to appear on our shores and at the sides of roads,
most likely in unprecedented numbers.They need our help –
and foster carers can make an enormous contribution to
turning their lives around.
As KevinWilliams,The Fostering Network’s chief executive
points out:‘Together we must give these children the chance to
be children, and foster carers in the UK have a history of
supporting children who have sought refuge when escaping
war-torn nations. Foster carers will not be able to stop their
nightmares, but they will make sure that their waking hours are
ones that can be enjoyed, and ones that contribute towards
their ongoing development.’•
Call for 3,000 more UASC to be
welcomed in to the UK
The International Development Committee (IDC),which
monitors the Department for International Development and any
affiliated organisations has urged the Government to welcome
3,000 UASC from Europe in addition to its Syrian refugee
resettlement programme.The calls have also been backed by
Liberal Democrat leaderTim Farron.
When speaking to the IDC the minister for Syrian refugees,
Richard Harrington,said that the Government is discussing the
proposal but an emphasis should be placed on ensuring any
resettlement is ‘well-ordered’.
and the effects of surviving trauma and abuse.
Home for Good, a Christian organisation that promotes
fostering and adoption, has been following up the 10,000
expressions of interest it received after it put out an appeal for
potential foster families. By Christmas, it had worked in
partnership with local authorities to organise 50 information
events across the UK about fostering unaccompanied children.
A high drop-off rate is always expected between the
expression of interest and actually becoming a foster carer, but
Home for Good chief executive Phil Green is upbeat about the
successes so far.
‘It’s exciting that 10,000 people who previously may never
have thought about fostering are now thinking about it – this is
a great opportunity,’ he says.
The vital role of existing foster carers
But while there is always a need for new foster carers,
especially for particular groups of children and young people, it
is currently existing and experienced foster carers who are at
the frontline of looking after unaccompanied asylum seekers.
Melissa Green, director of operations atThe Fostering
Network, says:‘Given the experiences that many of these
young people will have been through, and the resulting trauma
and challenges that they will be facing, we think it is likely to be
Julie Pybus is an editor and writer. She has worked withThe Fostering
Network since 2002, firstly as editor of Foster Care and more recently
as editor of publications including The Skills to Foster and Safer Caring
How The Fostering Network can help
We have some tips on our website about how
foster carers can help unaccompanied children:
thefosteringnetwork.org.uk/uasc_advice
If you are fostering, or about to foster, an unaccompanied
asylum seeker young person and need some advice you
can phone our helpline in your country (see page 2).
The Fostering Network has developed some training
sessions on fostering unaccompanied asylum seeker
children. If your service would like to purchase training
please contact james.foyle@fostering.net
The Fostering Network is developing a short guide to
fostering unaccompanied asylum seeker children.We will
let our members know as soon as it is available.
We would like to hear from you about your experiences
of fostering unaccompanied asylum seeker children so
that we can share best practice and learn from across the
sector. Email editor@fostering.net
•
•
•
•
•