Template Letter to MPs - Housing Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children (UASCs) in Hotels
15th February 2023
Write to your MP, using the template below or in your own words, asking them to raise this issue urgently with the government. Use this website to find your MP’s email address by simply entering your postcode into the search box: https://members.parliament.uk/FindYourMP .
You can also send this letter to the Immigration Minister, Robert Jenrick, at robert.jenrick.mp@parliament.uk and public.enquiries@homeoffice.gov.uk; and to the Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, at rishi.sunak.mp@parliament.uk.
Please share this information as widely as possible within your workplaces and professional networks and urge your colleagues to write to their MPs too. You may also wish to share this on social media and with friends and family (@IntChildHealth @RCPCHtweets). It all helps to pressure the government to end this policy which places multiple children at risk of imminent harm.
Dear _______________(insert MP name), I am writing to you as your constituent and as a (paediatrician/paediatric nurse/child health professional) to express my deep concern over the government’s continued practice of housing Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children (UASC) in hotels, despite the repeated calls of child health professionals, charities and advocacy groups for this to end immediately and for UASC to be transferred into the care of local authorities, as is their legal right.
Earlier this year, the horrifying scandal of missing UASC was reported and has been met with relative inaction by the Home Office. Ten percent of the 4600 children housed in hotels since 2021 have been reported missing and 200 are still unaccounted for.[1] Witnesses have reported children being abducted from outside these hotels by criminal groups. These missing children are at high risk of abuse, exploitation and trafficking.[2]
An inspection of hotels used to house UASC, which was carried out in March-May 2022 and published in October 2022, found that staff living on-site at two of the four hotels inspected had not been cleared through the Disclosure and Barring Service, placing a clear additional risk to the children housed there. The report recommended that “a viable and sustainable exit strategy from the use of hotels” be delivered within 6 months, yet the government has not issued a planned end date to this practice.[3]
UASC are a population rendered vulnerable by the trauma of being forced to flee their homes and separated from their families and caregivers. Many have experienced physical and sexual violence, persecution, torture, human rights abuses, and extreme poverty. Their migration journeys may have exposed them to exploitation, human trafficking and modern slavery. On arrival to the UK these children should be provided with the care and protection they both need and are legally entitled to. Safeguarding these children from harm and promotion of their wellbeing is the statutory duty and moral obligation of the UK Government.[4]
The UK is a signatory state to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of The Child and therefore has a responsibility to uphold the child’s right to protection, health, and education.[5] The Borders, Citizenship, and Immigration Act 2009 demands that the Home Office carry out its responsibilities in a manner that accounts for the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of all children in the UK and the safeguarding responsibilities of providers contracted by the Home Office are clear.[6] [7] Furthermore, by law, unaccompanied children are children ‘in need’ and should be in the care of local authorities.[8] It is unacceptable that at-risk children and young people are falling through the cracks of a broken system unable to take responsibility and meet its statutory obligations.
The crisis is dire with multiple children at risk of imminent harm. Therefore, I am writing to request that you raise this urgently with the Home Office, the Immigration Minister, Robert Jenrick, and Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak. To safeguard children now and in the future, the following specific measures are needed:
Stop accommodating unaccompanied children in hotels with immediate effect,
Provide adequate ring-fenced funding to local authorities so that they can fulfil their safeguarding duties to children and young people, including unaccompanied asylum-seeking children.
Adhere to the national legal frameworks in place to safeguard all children irrespective of immigration status,
Ensure that all policies and practices associated with the National Transfer Scheme and accommodation of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children have safeguarding as their core concern and are both child-centred and trauma-informed,
Launch an independent inquiry into the cases of missing children in Home Office funded hotels and ensure that lessons learned translate into effective safeguards and protection for all future UASC.
References
[1] Samuel M. 200 unaccompanied children still missing after disappearing from Home Office hotels. Community Care 23 Jan 23. https://www.communitycare.co.uk/2023/01/23/200-unaccompanied-children-still-missing-after-disappearing-from-home-office-hotels/
[2] Townsend M. Revealed: scores of child asylum seekers kidnapped from Home Office hotel. Guardian 21 Jan 2023. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/jan/21/revealed-scores-of-child-asylum-seekers-kidnapped-from-home-office-hotel
[3] Neal D. An inspection of the use of hotels for housing unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC) 2022.
[4] Stevens A & Sivasathiaseelan D. Safeguarding asylum-seeking children housed in contingency accommodation is everyone’s responsibility.
BMJ 2022; 378 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.o1911
[5] The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. Convention on the Rights of the Child. 1989.
https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/convention-rights-child
[6] Borders, Citizenship, and Immigration Act 2009. 2009.
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2009/11/section/55
[7] Doctors of the World UK. Asylum seeking children housed in initial accommodation centres (IACs) and contingency accommodation across England: a briefing on safeguarding, healthcare and education provision. Mar 2022. https://www.doctorsoftheworld.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Asylum-Seeking-Children-in-IACs-Contingency-Accomodation-Final.pdf
[8] Children Act 1989. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1989/41/contents