Supporting unaccompanied refugee young people

Unaccompanied refugee children and young people are under the age of 18, have come to the UK and are not accompanied by a parent or close relative.

In the absence of parents or guardians, unaccompanied refugee young people are likely to be in public care and classed as looked after children or looked after young people. Unaccompanied refugee children face changes to their care arrangements when they are 16 years old, which may affect their schooling and progress. Some will be supported with a pathway plan to help them with their needs until they are 18, throughout the process of leaving care. Others may have less support.

The Children’s Legal Centre website has information about the support that unaccompanied refugee children and young people may receive.

Young people leaving care may need additional support to cope with the demands of student life while at the same time adjusting to living independently. This will be at a time when they receive less one-to-one support than they did when they were under 16. Refugee young people can face further difficulties. M any of the barriers to integration that refugees face anyway are magnified for young refugees who arrive in the UK alone. Having been separated from their parents and wider family, they may be isolated and can experience particular difficulties in accessing mainstream services such as education, accommodation and health . They may be more vulnerable to emotional or mental health problems, social exclusion, bullying, discrimination and racism.

Schools and colleges play a significant role in supporting unaccompanied refugee young people. As well as providing a stable and nurturing environment, they should also work in close partnership with other services to ensure unaccompanied young people’s needs and entitlements are met. Section 52 of the Children Act 2004 places a duty on local authorities to promote the educational achievement of looked after children.

Schools and colleges can also help unaccompanied refugee young people to build links with members of their national or ethnic community, and also with the wider local community.

Good practice

With the right support, stability and encouragement, unaccompanied refugee young people can and do succeed and will make valuable contributions to the life of their schools, colleges and local communities.

Effective admission and induction procedures

Unaccompanied children can usually be identified when they are admitted to school. For information about effective admission procedures go to the supporting access and enrolment area of this website. It is good practice for schools and colleges to have a designated teacher or tutor who is responsible for monitoring the well-being of looked after young people. The designated member of staff should be aware of any unaccompanied refugee young people who are looked after and should take an active role in liaising with other agencies, including the young people’s personal advisers. The DfES and the Department of Health (DH) have jointly published Guidance on the Education of Children and Young People in Public Care (.PDF) which provides further information.

Secure an educational placement quickly

It is essential that they enjoy immediate access to learning activities and the friendship-making opportunities provided by a school or college environment. Unaccompanied young refugees who have Discretionary Leave to Remain in the UK until their 18 th birthday may have difficulty accessing some courses where the provider questions whether they will attend until completion. It is very important that these young people receive the advocacy and advice they need. The supporting access and enrolment area of this website provides information and guidance. Through developing peer support and friendships unaccompanied young people can be helped to feel welcome and gain a sense of belonging to the school or college and wider community.

Additional advocacy and support

Advocacy may be provided by social workers, the young person’s personal adviser, Connexions advisers or other professionals and volunteers who work with unaccompanied children. The Refugee Council also provides specialist support to unaccompanied refugee children.

The Children’s Panel of Advisers consists of advisers who are bilingual and who help the children and young people obtain sound legal advice and support and access to other services.

Close liaison with other services

Schools and colleges will need to work closely with social workers, foster carers and other providers responsible for young people leaving care, to ensure that they make progress and are accessing their entitlements. The multi-agency working area of this website provides guidance for practitioners.

A Better Education for Children in Care - Practice Guides, This good practice guidance, was published by the Government's Social Exclusion Unit which has since been replaced by the Social Exclusion Taskforce. The guide shows the many ways in which social workers, schools, colleges and other professional agencies can come together to support looked after children in schools and colleges. Unaccompanied refugee young people who are in public care should also have a Pathway Plan to help them into independence and to achieve their potential.

The Department of Health (DH) Education Protects website includes case study examples of corporate parenting for young people post 16, including good practice in further education.

Whilst unaccompanied young people are likely to be in pubic care, some young people will not be. Some are in less formal placements with members of the community, who may refer to themselves as ‘guardians’. As with parents and other carers, this arrangement may or may not be suitable. If educational professionals have any concerns at all they should refer to social services.

Sensitivity to the diversity of backgrounds

Tutors will need to take care to avoid using language that may exclude them, for example when referring to ‘parents’ or when setting up curriculum projects that involve or refer to ‘family’ at home. Schools and colleges can develop knowledge of the cultural backgrounds of unaccompanied refugee young people and look for ways to include this in the curriculum. There is information about this in the celebrating diversity area of this website.

Country information profiles are provided on the QCA Pathways to learning for new arrivals website.

Create opportunities for children to have contact with people from their cultural background

An awareness of local communities, refugee community organisations and youth refugee projects will be helpful. Projects that provide cultural and sporting activities that reduce isolation and promote well-being are:

Shpresa Programme in London

Asylum Welcome in Oxfordshire

Guidance on developing activities and setting up youth groups for unaccompanied refugees have been produced by:

Refugee Youth, the Barbara Melunsky Refugee Youth Agency

Save the Children

It is important to be sensitive to the divisions that exist within refugee groups from the same country. Children should have access to those groups with whom they feel comfortable.

Opportunities for learning, and social and leisure activities

Unaccompanied refugee young people may need further encouragement and support to attend existing study support provision. The enrichment and study support area of this website provides further guidance. ContinYou is a charity working to raise the educational attainment of children in public care by ensuring that they have access to sustained out-of-school-hours learning opportunities and personal support. Their Children in public care project aims to help schools and local authorities with support and resources, to involve these young people in study support activities. ContinYou’s guidance and resource pack Taking Part: making out-of-school-hours learning happen for children in care (.PDF) provides schools, colleges and local authorities with guidance on setting up programmes and activity ideas and resources.

Who Cares? Trust publishes several resources that can also help professionals, working with young people in public care, improve the educational outcomes and experiences of young people.

Make sure that unaccompanied young people are provided with good advice as they approach their 18th birthday. ‘Looked after’ young people, if classified as ‘eligible’ or ‘relevant’ under the Children (Leaving Care) Act (DH 2000) (.PDF), are entitled to further guidance and support. However unaccompanied refugee young people may face significant changes to the support they can receive and also to their immigration status in the UK. The regulations and guidance concerning their welfare and entitlement can be complex. It is therefore important that young people receive good legal advice from qualified advisers. It is, for example, an offence to provide advice on immigration matters unless one is registered with, or granted a certificate of exemption by, the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner (OISC). The OISC website has an Adviser Finder search facility to locate immigration and asylum advisers in different parts of the country.

The Children’s Legal Centre and the Refugee Council websites also have information and guidance.

Unaccompanied refugee young people may not have the advice and support that families sometimes provide. By being supportive listeners, tutors can help young people to make sense of what has happened to them. However, young people should not be pushed to talk about things they do not feel comfortable talking about. Schools and colleges will find useful Save the Children’s free downloadable guidance booklet on Young refugees: Providing emotional support to young separated refugees (.PDF).

Unaccompanied refugee young people may be vulnerable to bullying and racism. The promoting emotional well-being and celebrating diversity areas of this website provide further information and guidance on how to respond.

Case studies

Peer mentoring: unaccompanied refugee children (.PDF)

In Cardiff, young unaccompanied refugees can attend the You Are Not Alone drop-in centre where trained peer mentors are available to support them. This case study describes how the project was set up and promoted, and how the activities supported the needs of these vulnerable young people.

Tracing and Message Project (.PDF)

The International Tracing and Message Service (ITMS) is a British Red Cross service that works to reconnect families that have been separated by war or natural disaster. At George Dixon International School in Birmingham it supports young refugees who may have lost their loved ones through war. This case study describes how students in year12 are trained through the school’s International Baccalaureate Diploma course to promote the tracing service and act as a referral point for their peers.

The British Red Cross website gives information about its work in the UK and overseas. The education area of the website provides teaching resources. Information about how the Red Cross Tracing and message service works can be found on their website