Into the Unknown - Children's Journeys Through the Asylum Process

This week the Children's Society published a report Into the Unknown, on the experiences of unaccompanied children seeking asylum on arrival in the UK. THe report is critical of the UK Border agency, with the Children's Society maintaining that the UKBA fails to ensure that children fully understand the process they are entered into and that children who may already be traumatised, having fled from violence, have to contend with a culture of disbelief. Many children reported that when being interviewed by the UKBA, there was no responsible adult to act on tehir behalf, and that interpreters often lacked the specific regional dialect or language to do the job properly. The Children's Society concludes that better training is essential for interpreters involved in this work and that an independent feedback and complaints system needs to be established to keep children fully informed of the process of their claim.