Where Are the Children? A Mapping Exercise on Numbers of Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children in the UK: September 2000- March 2001
The main purpose of this mapping exercise is to collate existing information on unaccompanied minors in order to build up a full picture of asylum-seeking unaccompanied children's location by area within the UK. For the purpose of the research, statistical data from different governmental agencies is used, including data from the Home Office, Local Authority Statistics, the Refugee Council Children's Panel and the London Asylum Seekers' Consortium. As predicted, the findings show that most unaccompanied young people live in London and the South East of England. Although Kent places a significant proportion of its older children out of the area, it is still the county with the most unaccompanied minors. Also areas such as Birmingham, Northamptonshire and West Sussex have more than 100 unaccompanied children. The study concludes that more work on the relationship between national and local agencies is needed in order to develop long-term research. Furthermore, the exercise has revealed particular concerns with regard to 16 and 17 year old unaccompanied young people. Data about this group has not been collected separately from that on adults. Similarly, many professionals working with this group have seen them as having the same needs as adults. Therefore, the research proposes that, since the responsibility for newly arrived adults has moved to the National Asylum Support Service (NASS), local authorities should take the opportunity to re-examine their services for unaccompanied minors, particularly those aged 16 and 17.