One of the 13 reports by the independent borders inspectorate finally released last week details a series of disturbing findings about unaccompanied children seeking asylum, including the appalling revelation that they were forced to play a game which involved them guessing who would be the next one to be placed in foster care (Child asylum seekers in UK made to play game about who gets foster care places, 29 February). This is distressing and dystopian.
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.
