Good practice in social care for refugees and asylum seekers
Pointers for good practice: Good practice for children and young people
For children and young people additional pointers to good practice are:
- A positive approach to young people based on exchange and dialogue.
- Provision of safe age-appropriate accommodation under Section 20 of the 1989 Children Act. This includes:
- adequate placement resources able to take young people at short notice
- carers who have had appropriate training and have a positive approach to young people
- good support for carers from the local authority, or other appropriate agency.
- Support for refugee families, including:
- a focus on child welfare as well as child protection
- action to address child poverty as a result of the family having insufficient accommodation and means to support themselves
- support for children who may be caring for a parent with social care needs.
- Attention to emotional welfare as well as ensuring other needs are met including access to health services. This means recognition of the trauma and/or grief children and young people may have experienced and providing safe and stable relationships and access to support as appropriate.
- Engagement in age-appropriate training and education and the provision of leisure activities, including links with community groups and voluntary organisations in relation to education, social and cultural networks.
- Dedicated teams with a sufficient level of commitment and expertise and readily available resources for support with language (ideally with relevant language speakers in the team)
- Good use of the CAF and information-sharing across agencies with an assessment process led by qualified social workers
- Preparation for independence and development of appropriate pathway plans, including planning for different scenarios, which might include 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
- Assessment and access to appropriate services for children and young people who have been trafficked.
Link: Practice example: Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children (UASC) team, Kingston
Link: ADSS Asylum Taskforce: Key Transitions for Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children
Link: London Safeguarding Children Board – London Trafficked Children Toolkit (PDF file)
Link: The Children’s Society. Supporting refugee young carers and their families
