Good practice in social care for refugees and asylum seekers
Background: Identifying and responding to social care needs and the asylum process
There are several key points in the asylum seeking process that provide an opportunity for identifying and responding to social care needs, as illustrated below. There needs to be an emphasis on:
- screening and assessing social care needs as early in the asylum process as possible
- prompt and timely assessments in relation to the Children Acts or community care
- ensuring continuity of care through the dispersal process, the process of becoming a refugee or leaving care.
Figure 1:
1. Plans for unaccompanied asylum seeking children who have been given discretionary leave to remain in the UK involve considering three possible outcomes of a grant of status and leave to remain in the UK, return to the country of origin or remaining in the UK without any status being granted.
