Debate News Unaccompanied children must be protected by the care system, not placed in hotels Joint statement on the urgent need to safeguard unaccompanied children We write in response to ECPAT UK’s new report Outside the Frame, which gives chilling statistics on how many children arriving in England without a parent or guardian in the last year were denied the urgent care the state owes them. We are a wide range of organisations who want children in the UK to be seen as children first and foremost and to be protected and cared for safely and without discrimination. 1,606 children who arrived alone in England between July 2021 and June 2022 were placed in hotel accommodation directly by the Home Office, instead of in the care of local authorities where they could receive the support and protection that, by law, every child in the UK is entitled to. 45 children, some as young as 11, went missing over a 10-month period. Our concern for these children cannot be overstated. Already vulnerable, separated and traumatised, isolated from family support networks, they are at greatest risk of going missing and of exploitation and trafficking. Some may have already been trafficked and are at significant risk of being re-trafficked. They need - and are entitled to - care in supportive foster or residential homes, with skilled professionals to help them recover in safety. The Home Office is breaching the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009 and the Children Act 1989 by continuing to assume direct responsibility and to house children in Home Office-acquired accommodation, undermining the legal framework all our children rely on and creating an unofficial shadow system in which children, as the data now shows, may disappear from sight. This unacceptable policy, condemned by Ofsted, the Home Affairs Select Committee and also over 70 organisations this time last year, has been explained by the Department for Education and the Home Office as an ‘emergency measure’ but has been in practice for two years. It amounts to negligence in corporate parenting duties and is void of respect for children’s rights. We urge government to step up to its most vital role - protecting and caring for children.Action is urgently needed: this is the time of year when Kent County Council may consider its capacity to take responsibility for unaccompanied children is exceeded by the numbers of children arriving, and the council may once again consider it cannot fulfil its duties to any of them. We repeat our concerns of July 2021 that the response of the government should not be to place children in hotels, outside of the care system. The care system across all local authorities is severely stretched, and children’s services departments are in the impossible position of having to accept children they don’t have appropriate homes and services to support. We therefore support the recommendations in ECPAT UK’s report: use of Home Office hotel accommodation must cease and central government must invest in proper care for children, so that local authorities can accept and support every child who arrives on our shores without a parent or guardian, as the law dictates. Signatories as of Sunday 14th August 2022: Kathy Evans, CEO, Children EnglandPatricia Durr, CEO, ECPAT UK Andy Elvin CEO TACT Nick Watts Director Together with Migrant Children Jane Collins Director FosterSupport Sherry Peck Chief Executive Safer London Navinder kaur Chief Executive Voluntary Action Islington Mark Lee Chief Executive Together Trust Debbie Hughes Director/CEO Hounslow Action for Youth (HAY) Ian Soars CEO Spurgeons Andrea Maddocks CEO Mentor Link Andrew Varley Chief Executive Officer St. Vincent's Family Project Jackie Rosenberg CEO One Westminster Christine Freeman Acting Chair Enfield Children and Young People's Services Simon Barrow Director Ekklesia (think tank) Vivienne Evans Chief Executive Adfam Maggie Jones CEO CVAA Carolyne Willow Director Article 39 Hannah Baynes Paediatric Consultant NHS Katharine Sacks-Jones Chief Executive Become Clare Scherer Chief Executive Naval Children's Charity Katie Clarke Director Bringing Us Together Sara Robinson Centre Director St Augustine's Centre Mark Simms Chief Executive P3 Charity Anna Khan Chief Executive Officer Welcare Shaqib Juneja Interim Chief Executive Officer My Family Group Temi Mwale Executive Director The 4Front Project Ltd Andrea hunt Foster carer Warwickshire county council Andrew Evans CEO METRO Charity Zara Mohammed Secretary General Muslim Council of Britain Sabah Gilani Director Muslim Mind Collaborative Fadi Itani OBE CEO Muslim Charities Forum Kashif Shabir CEO Muslim Aid John McGowan General Secretary Social Workers Union Anna Feuchtwang Chief Executive National Children's Bureau Brigid Robinson Managing Director Coram Voice Dr Razia Shariff CEO Kent Refugee Action Network (KRAN) Carole Littlechild Chair Nagalro – professional association for Children’s Guardians, Family Court Advisers and Independent Social Workers Sariya Cheruvallil-Contractor Associate Professor in the Sociology of Islam Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations, Coventry University SHARON MARTIN Chair National IRO Managers Partnership (NIROMP) Alison Pickup Director Asylum Aid Philip Ishola CEO Love146 Richard Hammond Chief Executive The Separated Child Foundation Tim Naor Hilton CEO Refugee Action Martin Sexton Chair, Policy Ethics and Human Rights Committee British Association of Social Workers Bella Sankey Director Detention Action Dr Paul Rigby Senior Lecturer, Social Work University of Stirling Dr Natalia Paszkiewicz Project Lead Da'aro Youth Project Emily Crowley Chief Executive Student Action for Refugees Dr Carol Homden CBE Group Chief Executive Coram Hamida Ali Director ECYPS-Children & Young Persons Services Alison Birch Director After18 Celia Sands CEO South London Refugee Association Jimmy Zachariah Chief Executive Baca Dr Edie Friedman Executive Director The Jewish Council for Racial Equality (JCORE) Kayte Cable and Vicki Felgate Co-Founders Big Leaf Foundation Catherine Gladwell Chief Executive Refugee Education UK Enver Solomon Chief Executive Refugee Council Andrew Sirel Legal Director & Partner JustRight Scotland Cathy Ashley Chief Executive Family Rights Group Katie Fennell National Coordinator Kids in Need of Defense UK (KIND UK) Melian Mansfield Chair of Trustees London Play Naomi Jackson Development Lead Social Workers Without Borders Justin Humphreys Chief Executive Thirtyone:eight Lynn Perry MBE Chief Executive Barnardo's Beth Wilson CEO Bristol Refugee Rights Matt Blacker CEO Hope for the Young Karen Pearse Director Positive Action for Refugees and Asylum Seekers Ellen Broome Managing Director CoramBAAF Molly Brech Head of Services (Brent) Young Roots Rebecca Ives Associate Solicitor Wilson Solicitors LLP Signatories after publication on Sunday 14th August 2022 Anna Fisher Chair Nordic Model Now! Carolyn Housman CEO Children and Families Across Borders Philip Townsend Director of Operations St Christopher's Fellowship Magdalen Bartlett CEO Afrocats Lesley Gladwell CEO Rebuild East Midlands Leigh Elliott CEO Children North East New organisations can add their support to our statement here. Please note, sign-up must be by a CEO or Director who has authority to speak for the whole organisation. Manage Cookie Preferences