This training course has been developed to help trainers equip social care professionals with the necessary skills to meet the complex needs of asylum seeking and refugee children. It includes a CD-ROM of overheads and handouts to distribute to participants.
Background
There are now thousands of unaccompanied asylum seeking and refugee children living in the UK.
Under the Children Act 1989 (England and Wales), children with no one to take parental responsibility for them are 'children in need' and entitled to a full range of services from the local authority. The local authority is required by law to identify the needs of each unaccompanied asylum-seeking child in their area, and to provide services to meet those needs.
But there is a lack of awareness and an inconsistent approach across the country to caring for asylum-seeking and refugee children. Long experience of doing the job has not, in many cases, been matched by the necessary understanding of the issues or a confident approach to providing appropriate care and support to meet the complex needs of these children, hence the development of this course.
Aims of the course
This one-day introductory training course is designed to meet the needs of social care professionals playing a key role in providing support and protection to unaccompanied asylum seeking and refugee children.
Who is it suitable for?
It is suitable for multidisciplinary teams of between eight and sixteen from either the same organisation or different agencies with similar training needs. It puts strong emphasis on building on participants' existing knowledge, encouraging them to use their own experiences to help them gain insight into the experiences of unaccompanied children.
What does the course cover?
Sessions cover the following topics:
Introduction - the need for this training course
Understanding the unaccompanied refugee children context
Understanding the legislation that governs unaccompanied asylum-seeking and refugee children
Assessing unaccompanied asylum-seeking and refugee children's needs and identifying appropriate services
Building professional partnerships, networking and action planning in work with these children
What will participants gain from the course?
By the end of the course, participants will
have gained increased understanding of the refugee context and the effects of the children's refugee experiences;
understand why children become unaccompanied asylum-seeking and refugee children;
understand the impact of the asylum-seeking process on them, and
be better prepared to assess the needs of these children and decide which services they require.
The CD-ROM contains overheads and handouts to distribute to participants.
The authors
Selam Kidane is the Refugee Children Project Consultant at BAAF, a project funded by the Big Lottery Fund. She originally came to the UK seeking asylum as an unaccompanied child. Penny Amerena has a background in international development and publishing and now works as a freelance writer and communications consultant for the voluntary sector.
