A foster father who is fighting for the young man he looks after to be allowed to stay in this country has said the system put in place by the Government is ‘cruel’.
John Stokes said he will continue to fight for Samet, who was trafficked into Britain as a child slave when he was a teenage, to be able to start his adult life here. Mr Stokes spoke out after the latest appeal decision by the Home Office came as a ‘crushing blow’ to the family’s hopes that Samet would be allowed to stay.
The Home Office has maintained that it will not comment on the case while legal proceedings are ongoing.
Read more: TV star Joe backs young Bristol City fan's appeal to stay in Britain
Almost half a million people have signed a petition supporting the case of Samet, who was endured a horrific childhood since the age of 11 when he was taken from his family and forced to beg on the streets in Albania.
Then he was first trafficked as a child to Belgium, before ending up being brought to Bristol by the traffickers when he was 15. He ended up in care, and was fostered by Mr Stokes, who has fostered more than 60 young people from the area over several decades.
Samet went to school in Bristol, and then took a carpentry course at college here - and was the top student before the pandemic hit. Mr Stokes said the system put in place by the Government was a ‘cruel’ way to treat hundreds of children who are brought here as modern-day slaves by people traffickers, to work against their will in cannabis farms, car washes, nail bars and as sex workers.
If they are rescued from that slavery, the children are either put in care or fostered, and able to attend school and then college.
But as soon as they turn 18, the Home Office is able to deny them the right to stay. Campaign group Every Child Protected Against Trafficking said that of 754 children trafficked to Britain in one year, 2019-20, only 17 have been allowed to stay.
One of those was a young man called Ali, who was fostered by John Stokes in Bristol, and who won awards as a chef, and gained a position as a head chef in a top restaurant at the age of 21.
Mr Stokes said he was only given leave to remain in this country because of that exceptional talent, but the default from the Home Office is to force the children trafficked in from places like Albania back to the countries they came from.
Mr Stokes said Samet, who is now 20, was initially one of ‘lucky ones’, because he escaped that slavery situation and ended up in foster care with access to education for the first time. “For the first two years it was great - he went to school, which he’d been denied back in his country. He went to college, became the top student in his year at carpentry, and everything was fine until he reached 18,” he said.
“And then at 18 you have to apply for leave to remain, he was denied and we have spent now two and a half years in a process of fighting that decision and further decisions since. They give you leave to stay until 18 and then you come up against the Home Office and they are not liable to give you leave to remain. It’s very rare that it gets granted for these children.
“I think they make decisions on policy. Their policy is to deny everyone,” he said, adding that the case of Ali - who was supported by people across Bristol before being allowed to stay - was ‘very rare’. Launching a fresh appeal for support following what could now be the final dismissal of an appeal by the Home Office, Mr Stokes said the system needed to change.
Read more: Albanian teen trafficked into UK must answer bail on Christmas Day
“We’re compliant in a system in which the only people it benefits are the traffickers, because they bring them here. It’s not the youngsters’ choice, generally, to come here. This is where they end up. They are victims and they should be treated as victims,” he said.
“After working in social services for 30 years, there is no other area of childcare where young people are treated with such cruelty as in this Home Office system of hostile environment. We’ll still be fighting. We’ll continue fighting as long as we can. Obviously it all costs money, and I’ve managed to raise money to pay for it so far,” he added.
The options for Samet, who became an ardent Bristol City fan and season ticket holder before the pandemic, and received the support of the club and celebrity fans like Joe Sims, are grim.
“Realistically, he either goes back to Albania where his life is under threat, or he runs away here,” Mr Stokes said. “I’ve met youngsters who have run away here, and they live off the grid. There’s no life, because they are working basically for people who treat them as slaves.
“When he arrived here, within the first year he was diagnosed with severe PTSD. That has increased immensely since, because every decision has been a crushing of hopes. He doesn’t really hold out hope now himself. I do, but he doesn’t because he’s had them crushed so many times.
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“The worst thing is that since he’s 18, he’s not had a single day where he’s been able to behave as an adult - to get a job, or to get an apprenticeship, or to get a driving licence or to do anything.
“His life has been on hold, his fellow students at college have moved on with their lives.
He was the best student in his year - he has watched them for nearly two and a half years carry on their lives while his is basically in stagnation,” he added.
“Since turning 18, he’s not had a day where he has not feared for his future,” said Mr Stokes. “My two Albanian boys became part of my family. By 21, Ali had become a head chef and an asset to this country. Samet is nearly 21 and just wants to be an asset for this country, rather than for the traffickers and gangs that thrive under Priti Patel’s cruel regime,” he added.
Mr Stokes said the latest decision by the Home Office has been the worst so far.
“I had to crush Samet’s dreams with the news that our latest appeal has failed. My belief in justice, humanity and compassion defeating cruelty is being sorely tested and my energy is not what it was,” he said.
The next step in the legal process, which few cases ever reach, is to appeal to the Upper Chamber of the Tribunal.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “It would be inappropriate to comment whilst legal proceedings are ongoing.”
The petition calling for the Home Office to change its mind is here
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