Foster families and social workers are demanding an independent inquiry after it emerged that Home Office-employed staff forced refugee children to play a game to guess who would be the next one to be placed in foster care.
In a letter published today in the Guardian, the British Association of Social Workers, the Fostering Network, the Refugee Council and Every Child Protected Against Trafficking (ECPAT) are among 20 bodies saying that children are being failed, abused and exploited because of the current Home Office system.
The letter says: “In our work with refugee children, we repeatedly see how they are being failed. Hundreds of unaccompanied children missing from hotels still have not been found. Children systematically wrongly age-assessed are treated as adults and placed in the same bedrooms as unrelated adult strangers. There is a culture of callous disregard for children’s basic right to dignity.
“It is time for the government to carry out a wide-ranging independent inquiry into the treatment of unaccompanied children who come to our country seeking safety.”
The Home Office launched an internal inquiry after the “game” was disclosed on Thursday by a report on unaccompanied asylum-seeking children written by David Neal, the sacked borders watchdog.
An inspector working for Neal at one of four hotels where dozens of children were living was shocked to hear that they were gathered together when one of their number was to be placed with a foster family.
“One team leader described the process by which they would disclose to the children who would be the next to leave for a placement,” the report said. “This involved ‘making a game of it’, asking them to guess who would be next, before revealing their name. Inspectors considered this to be insensitive in the extreme and undoubtedly upsetting to the children.”
In the reinspection of four hotels where children were being housed, the borders inspector found there was no guarantee that staff had been given regular disclosure and barring services clearances.
In evidence to the reinspection, the Home Office reported that 147 children had left the hotels without supervision and remained unaccounted for between July 2021 and 8 September 2023.
Neal was sacked last month as independent inspector of borders and immigration after disclosing details of some of 15 reports that he had submitted up to 11 months ago.
Thirteen of the reports, totalling 900 pages, were released by the Home Office on Thursday – the same day as the Sarah Everard report, immigration statistics and a hard-hitting NAO report revealing the cost of the Rwanda scheme.
The Home Office was accused by Labour of attempting to bury bad news. Neal has accused Rishi Sunak of breaking his pledge to deliver reforms of the Home Office and Border Force.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “The safety and welfare of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children is our utmost priority. After the inspections findings, we launched a full investigation into the inappropriate behaviour of the support worker, who was removed from site immediately and did not return.
“Since the two Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration inspections in 2022 and 2023, we have closed all seven hotels used to accommodate unaccompanied asylum-seeking children.”
