Barnardo’s – Written evidence (FAM0099)             
 

Summary

The family reunion route is complex and can be overwhelming, particularly for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children who have already experienced significant trauma and are then faced with the pressures of bringing their family over to the UK. Significant wait times, lack of access to sufficient support and inconsistent application of immigration policies have serious impacts on young people’s mental health, which can make integration into British society difficult. By simplifying and unifying how the governments treat asylum seekers and refugees, along with better training for decision makers, refugees will be able to navigate through the asylum process in a way that will avoid adding extra stress on families. Barnardo’s is strongly of the view that there is a need for asylum seekers and refugees from any nation to be treated equally in relation to their need to be able to access adequate support including healthcare, education and practical support.

Key recommendations:

1)           Pre- and post-arrival support: this is imperative to avoid family breakdown and destitution and help families to become embedded within their community in the UK. More support is needed to identify the specific needs of individual families to support their psychological wellbeing.

2)           Recognise the importance of sibling relationships: We are calling on the governments to consider the importance of accommodating sibling groups together, e.g., recognising sibling and friend groups wanting to be housed together through the National Transfer Scheme.

3)           A quick and consistent system: By shortening wait times for family reunion claims to be processed, young people can avoid extended periods of separation from their family allowing them to integrate quicker into British society. Inconsistencies are evident throughout the immigration process; we urge the UK Government to simplify and unify how asylum seekers and refugees are treated to ensure all young people get the support they need.

About Barnardo’s

Barnardo’s has a long history of helping people seeking sanctuary in the UK. Barnardo’s most recent support to families from Ukraine, over the past 6 months, builds on our significant experience of supporting refugees arriving from Afghanistan and Syria through a range of services. We spoke to frontline workers of these services to inform this consultation response. Those services include:

The National Counter Trafficking Service: in England and Wales, the Barnardo’s National Counter Trafficking Service (NCTS), funded by the Home Office, delivers the Independent Child Trafficking Guardianship Service, which is underpinned by the Modern Slavery Act 2015, Section 48. Since 2014, the service has worked with over 1,000 children who have been identified as trafficked or at risk of trafficking, many of whom are also separated and unaccompanied children seeking asylum.
 

The Barnardo’s NI Refugee Support Service (NIRSS) was established in 2015 to support refugee families arriving through the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme with their arrival in Northern Ireland. Our work in this area has grown significantly, with our expertise in children’s social care readily applicable to the experiences of these children. Since April 2018, Barnardo’s NI has supported 121 children who are unaccompanied or separated from a legal guardian through our Independent Guardian Service.

 

The Barnardo’s Family Reunion and Integration Service (FRIS) worked in partnership with the British Red Cross and Queen Margaret University. FRIS opened in 2018 to support reunited refugee families integrate into their new communities in Glasgow and Birmingham, and to gain an evidence-based understanding of what works well. Barnardo's FRIS supported family integration by focusing on the children in the family, considering them as individuals with their own specific needs. The service ended in March 2022.

The Barnardo’s Ukrainian Helpline: Following discussion with the Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain, Barnardo's set up the Ukrainian Support Helpline to provide a holistic support service. The helpline is available to anyone fleeing to the UK as a result of the war in Ukraine and has Ukrainian- and Russian-speaking advisors available. Helpline workers have picked up recurring themes which have been used to inform the answers within the response.

1.               How does immigration law define a “family” and a “relative”? How have these definitions evolved over time? Are they consistent across immigration pathways? Do they reflect contemporary societal understandings of “family” and “relative”, in the UK and overseas?

Through our services, we have found that there is different treatment between asylum seeking children and children with UK citizenship. For example, frontline workers within the Barnardo’s NIRSS have reported that within hotel contingency accommodation, if an asylum seeking or refugee woman is pregnant and needs to go into hospital to give birth, what the statutory services consider to be an acceptable guardian to look after her other children would not be acceptable in other circumstances (e.g. for a UK citizen).

Inconsistencies were also reported as being common within the FRIS, for example a less stringent safeguarding approach to children entering the UK with an adult, and with fewer questions exploring their parental relationship with the adult. Whereas when trying to reunite families already living within the UK, agencies would be much stricter, requesting DNA tests to prove parental relationships. It was also found that there were higher quality checks on accommodation when assessing whether an asylum seeking or refugee family, already living in the UK should be reunited, rather than when checking if the accommodation is fit for the family coming to the UK as one unit. Staff throughout our services supporting migrant children have reported finding the balance difficult between getting children and young people reunited and integrated quickly but also making sure sufficient safeguarding concerns are addressed.

2.               Does immigration law apply to every family the same? Do different rules apply to different circumstances? Are rules applied consistently in similar circumstances? What are the justifications for discrepancies? How do “mainstream” immigration pathways compare with “bespoke” ones introduced in response to geopolitical and refugee crises and how do the bespoke pathways compare with each other?

The UK offers a number of different schemes for settling unaccompanied children and asylum seekers in the UK, with different rights under each scheme. The New Plan for Immigration and the two-tiered system which will treat asylum-seekers differently depending on how they arrive in the UK, will only further exacerbate these discrepancies. We urge the government to consider combining the various schemes and treating all asylum-seekers equally and fairly, to ensure uniformity and consistency for all children. Currently there are around 25,000 asylum seekers[1], and nearly 10,000 Afghan refugees (around half of whom are children)[2], living in hotels across the UK waiting for permanent housing, and they would benefit from a scheme similar to Homes for Ukraine. All refugee families and children we are supporting need support to address their trauma and to access education, training, and suitable housing.

There is growing case evidence via our Independent Guardian Service (IGS) in Northern Ireland, of the inconsistent treatment of siblings by immigration policies. For example, Trust Areas make decisions about whether over 18-year-old siblings can be regarded as a parental guardian if they are travelling with younger siblings. The IGS has found that some Trust Areas make the decision that a younger sibling needs to go into their care system and the older sibling will go in contingency accommodation, whilst other Trust Areas are making the decision, based on what the Home Office are advising, that the older sibling can be considered a guardian and therefore they can all go into contingency accommodation together. This has an implication on how their asylum claim is then processed depending on who is the main applicant, despite being from the same family and facing the same persecution in their home country. The inconsistent forms of leave granted to adults and children in the same family is a concern highlighted within The UN Refugee Agency’s Integration Report ‘Untold stories: families in the asylum process’.[3]

This inconsistent approach is overwhelming and confusing for CYP who are already experiencing a great deal of change in their external environment. By simplifying and unifying how Governments treat asylum seekers and refugees, this will prevent confusion and allow them to integrate into society more quickly. Furthermore, better training and guidance should be provided to ensure decision makers understand and implement appropriate, consistent procedures across the family’s asylum claim.

3.               Does the financial requirement for spouses and partners (also known as “minimum income requirement”) achieve its objectives? How could the requirement, and the process of demonstrating it is met, achieve them better? How could it be adapted to reflect changes in the economy and the labour market? Are there any unintended consequences for individuals and families?

N/A

4.               What are the fiscal and economic impacts of family migration policies, for instance in respect of the labour market, recruitment, productivity, and innovation?

N/A

  1. What is the impact of family migration policies on public services?

N/A

What is the impact of family migration policies on local authorities?

Unaccompanied children who are to be joined by families under family reunion will require support from local authorities.[4] Practitioners from the ICTG Service, have found that often there is little to no notification from the Home Office to local authorities that families are set to come to the UK. This means planning is unlikely to take place. Unaccompanied children will therefore not have, at the point of arrival from families, suitable accommodation in which families can join them. UASC are faced with a very difficult choice of either leaving S.20 (of the Children’s Act) care to live with family and making a homelessness application to the local authority (resulting in being placed in B&Bs whilst the claim is processed) or remaining under the care of the local authority (should they be allowed) on S.20 and being separated from their families.

ICTG practitioners have also found that housing legislation in the UK makes this additionally difficult as adults only receive provision in the form of accommodation if they meet both the local connection and priority need thresholds.[5] A newly arrived adult may therefore risk being passed between local authority areas who disagree over local connection and/or fail to meet the priority need threshold. It is a very challenging area and time for the young person wanting to reunite with their family member, who had, prior to this perhaps experienced stable accommodation.

Further complexities come from the current delays of Universal Credit being paid after application (this is over 5 weeks).[6] As many families joining children in the UK may be able to speak little English, children are often faced with having to support families in navigating the complex benefit system. Local authorities at this point may need to step in again, especially if a child has left S.20 provision, to provide support under Section 17 to ensure the family have food/warmth as there will be a child in need. The alternative to this, which our staff within the ICTG service have reported, is a child remaining on S.20 and receiving financial support whilst moving to live with family and attempting to provide support for the whole family on this alone whilst their applications are processed. We therefore call on the government to provide an identified national provision of pre-arrival support and changes in policies to ensure there is no gap of destitution for anyone fleeing conflict or persecution and arriving in the UK.

Further impacts on local authorities, which our ICTG staff have reported, is due to the lack of post-arrival support. When children are reunited with family members or siblings whom they might not have seen or spoken to for many years, this comes with obvious challenges within the family dynamic. The risk of family breakdown leads to further responsibilities on the local authority who may need to step in to prevent or respond to domestic violence and child abuse. We would like to see national provision of post-arrival support which helps families to live together once more, acclimatise to UK life and identify any possible risk in advance of relationship breakdown occurring. This could also ensure that families are accessing provisions to help them to build a life here in the UK through accessing ESOL classes to improve English, converting accreditations so they are able to join the workforce and embed themselves within the communities in the UK through activities which help build bonds.

7.               In what circumstances may family immigration law and practice result in an extended (or indefinite) period of family separation or place families under stress in other ways? How could they be adapted to prevent or shorten periods of family separation or be more accommodating of the wellbeing of families?

Lack of availability and accessibility of immigration solicitors is a real problem across the UK, with recent research from Refugee Action reporting that across England and Wales as a whole, there is a deficit of at least 6,000 solicitors for asylum applications alone.[7] Our Barnardo’s NI services have also reported this as a key issue, with a significant lack of solicitors with expertise of immigration to help UASC, meaning cases are being drawn out and families are being separated for prolonged periods. Similar issues are reported in Refugee’s Actions recent research paper, which highlights that despite the broader scope of legal aid in NI, and despite all solicitors being permitted to do immigration legal aid work without registration or regulatory barriers, very few firms actually take immigration cases.[8] This means if a child is trying to apply for family reunion on their own, they will struggle to exercise their rights to family reunion. Our NI services also highlight how routes to family reunion are currently not well advertised in Northern Ireland, meaning many asylum seekers will not know this is an option.

In the UK, refugees are only eligible to apply for family reunion once they have been granted either Refugee Status or Humanitarian Protection (Family reunion (accessible) - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). Freedom of Information (FOI) requests of Home Office data obtained by the Refugee Council show that the number of people waiting for more than a year for an initial decision increased almost tenfold from 3,588 people in 2010 to 33,016 in 2020.[9] Because the process is so long and drawn out, our services are reporting that by the time the young person comes to apply for family reunion, often they are no longer considered a child and so have no support in doing so. They are also then forced to re-enter back into the immigration process, which has often been a traumatic system, which can have serious impacts on their mental health.

Our Family Reunion Reintegration Service reported that delayed periods of separation can cause significant stress on the sponsor of the family reunion scheme, as the pressure to provide and create a life for the family when they arrive is immense. Frontline workers have reported that the sponsor (commonly the father) who is already living in the UK is often in a one-bedroom flat when applying to bring their family over. When the family arrives, they are often moved to hotel accommodation for up to 9 months with no access to cooking. This pressure has resulted in relationship breakdown; separation then becomes a complicated process as the family visa is only valid when reunited. Similar issues are reported across the sector, with the British Red Cross in their ‘Together at Last’ Report finding only 23%of the families they support were able to move into their sponsor’s pre-existing accommodation on arrival.[10]

Extended periods of family separation also mean that often the sponsor will not know the child very well when they eventually arrive. Our practitioners have reported cases where the older sibling will have taken on a parental role before arriving in the UK which is then challenged when they become family again. More support is needed to identify the specific needs of individual families to support their psychological wellbeing.

Our NI services have also highlighted the importance of siblings staying together, particularly when children have lost, or become separated from, their parents. An option for government could be to create a specific immigration pathway that would quickly identify sibling groups and accommodate them together outside of contingency accommodation. This could be in the form of a live-in care supported accommodation arrangement, with support provided for them to live as a family group and help them with their relationships (a similar model provided by Barnardo’s FRIS). The Home Office recently announced changes to the National Transfer Scheme[11] (NTS) with all local authorities (including Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) given legal notice to accept transfers of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children into their care. As this will mean many UASC having to relocate, often by long distance, we are recommending that the government consider allocating accommodation for sibling and friend groups wanting to come together through the NTS.

8.               How do family migration policies affect children separated from one or both of their parents (or other relative)? How do families separated by immigration law use modern means of communication, and what is the impact of this use?

Our practitioners from the FRIS reported that children separated from their parents and family have profound effects on their mental health. Many don’t know even where their families are so are experiencing a grief response more than just a loss. Furthermore, many young people are facing significant pressure when navigating the immigration system, added with the additional stress of being responsible for bringing their family over. If they don’t have the documents that the system expects them to have, they are experiencing another heap of failure on top of already feeling inadequate. This can have a huge impact on mental health.

Lack of support for mental health can mean children will struggle to integrate into society. Long waiting lists for assessment and treatment by children’s mental health services are well documented, with children waiting anywhere from seven days to almost three years for assessment.[12] Our Ukrainian Helpline and Therapeutic Services have reported declining mental health as a common theme for this cohort. It is therefore essential that children can access the appropriate support as soon as they need it. This could be through lower-level support provided for in schools and communities or specialist support. Specialist support will require sufficient investment, to combat the long waiting times and ensuring the right pathways are in place to access support by the NHS.

Modern means of communication

As part of The Great British Tech Appeal, Barnardo’s has partnered with Vodafone to provide free digital devices and SIM cards to those who need them most.[13] When the campaign was launched in May 2020, Barnardo’s reported (via the BOLOH Helpline) a tenfold increase in families and young people waiting for devices and connectivity, showing the urgent need for modern means of communication to contact loved ones.

9.               How should family migration policies interact with the right to respect for family and private life and the best interests of the child? What can the immigration process learn from the family justice system and how could they best interact with one another?

Family reunion applications from children who wish to be joined by family members should be considered on a best interest basis and the immigration casework should ensure that (according to Home Office guidance): "the decision notice or letter must demonstrate that all relevant information and evidence provided about the best interests of a child in the UK have been considered."[14] Immigration caseworkers do not have direct contact with young people themselves, nor are they a child-focused service, so it is difficult to know how they assess what is in a child’s ‘best interest’ as opposed to just following guidance.

Whilst an asylum claim is pending, all individuals used to have the right to request under Dublin III[15] that their asylum claims be heard together by the same country. This meant children were able to request for their family members in other countries i.e. France, Germany, to join them in the UK to have their claims heard together. Since leaving the European Union, this law has not been enshrined into UK law and this right is therefore no longer possible. [16]The family reunion scheme is specifically set up with a focus on an adult bringing their married partner and children to the UK. The lack of a focus on children requesting reunion has been identified by frontline workers within our ICTG service as making the application for children much more difficult and often what is in the child’s best interest is often ignored.

10.               How do family migration policies and their implementation affect the integration and participation in British society of (would-be) sponsors and their sponsored family members?

Declining mental health is one of the biggest barriers to integration, affecting a young person’s ability to socialise and become involved in their local community. Children and young people who have been displaced by war have suffered immensely in the conflict. This can manifest in different ways and the impact may not be apparent for some time. In one local authority area which Barnardo’s is working in, 55% of Ukraine families who have fled war have witnessed a family member/someone they know being tortured or killed. The lack of support available, coupled with the thousands of refugees and asylum seekers living in poor conditions in contingency accommodation means that many turn to third sector organisations, like Barnardo’s, for support. Barnardo’s therapeutic support service through its Ukrainian Helpline is starting to see an increase in requests for support as Ukrainian refugees begin to process their trauma. Helpline advisors are dealing with scenarios involving complex trauma, in which interpreters are needed or where families need time to talk about their experiences.

Families who live in dispersal accommodation will face significant barriers to integration, as poor living conditions can severely impact on a parent’s ability to undertake family activities and things which are stimulating for children. We urge the government to help families find alternative accommodation to temporary accommodation - additional support is vital for families to help them get access into social housing or the private rented sector. Support could be provided in a number of ways, including the use of Rent Deposit Schemes (currently in place in London through the Refugee Council[17] limited capacity means this can only help a fraction of those that need this crucial support)[18] or with support from guarantors, allowing families to find affordable accommodation through sustainable tenancies. We are calling for this urgent resolution for all refugees on the same terms, given recent figures revealed in Refugee Council’s recent report ‘Lives on Hold: The Experiences of People in Hotel Asylum Accommodation’ [19] with 378 refugees and asylum seekers having been in hotel rooms for a year and almost 3,000 (2,826) for more than 6 months.

Barnardo’s research paper ‘A new life for me’: Integration Experiences of Syrian Refugee Children and Families’[20] offers qualitative research which explores the resettlement and integration experiences of Syrian refugee children and their families who are supported by Barnardo’s Northern Ireland Refugee Support Service. The findings reveal the importance of social connections and family relationships during resettlement. While participants describe positive experiences of resettlement and highlight the importance of Barnardo’s support, they often face trauma, difficulties with settling into school, racism, and language barriers.

Our ‘New Life for Me’ report[21] makes a series of recommendations, most of which fall under the remit of the Northern Ireland Assembly and devolved institutions. However, a number of these recommendations could be supported by funding and priority focus from the UK Government. These recommendations include:

 

September 2022

 


[1] Lives-on-hold-research-report.-July-2022.pdf (refugeecouncil.org.uk)

[2] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/afghan-resettlement-programme-operational-data/afghan-resettlement-programme-operational-data

[3] https://www.refworld.org/pdfid/51c027b84.pdf

[4] https://www.local.gov.uk/topics/communities/refugees-and-asylum-seekers/refugees-and-unaccompanied-children

[5] Good-Practice-Guide.pdf (refugeecouncil.org.uk)

[6] https://www.politicshome.com/news/article/british-family-turn-to-crowdfunding-for-ukrainian-refugee-after-benefits-delay

[7] https://www.refugee-action.org.uk/no-access-to-justice-how-legal-advice-deserts-fail-refugees-migrants-and-our-communities/

[8] Ibid.

[9] Living-in-Limbo-A-decade-of-delays-in-the-UK-Asylum-system-July-2021.pdf (refugeecouncil.org.uk)

[10] Together at last: Supporting refugee families who reunite in the UK (redcross.org.uk)

[11] National Transfer Scheme to become mandatory for all local authorities - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

[12] https://www.local.gov.uk/parliament/briefings-and-responses/westminster-hall-debate-homes-ukraine-scheme-and-child-refugees

[13] Vodafone and Barnardo’s issue new appeal for devices to help Afghan refugees | Barnardo's (barnardos.org.uk)  

[14] 

[15] https://www.refworld.org/pdfid/5df1f7f54.pdf

[16] https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-9031/

[17] https://www.refugeecouncil.org.uk/get-support/services/private-rented-scheme/    

[18] https://www.refugeecouncil.org.uk/latest/news/how-can-refugees-pay-a-housing-deposit-when-they-arrive-with-nothing-and-are-banned-from-working-refugee-council-calls-on-london-mayor-candidates-to-pledge-support-for-homeless-refu/

[19] https://www.refugeecouncil.org.uk/information/resources/lives-on-hold-the-experiences-of-people-in-hotel-asylum-accommodation/

[20] https://www.barnardos.org.uk/sites/default/files/2020-11/Barnardos_ANewLifeForMe_web.pdf

[21] Ibid.