Hosted by www.ijjo.org

Chapter 14 | Policy and Practice Recommendations
Need for interpreters
Research related to adult applicants reveals that
three quarters of case workers interviewed do not
believe that applicants should be able to bring their
own interpreters to the asylum interview. These
findings may be relevant to child asylum applicants
when the Immigration and Nationality Directorate
begins to interview unaccompanied or separated
children — the presence of an independent interpreter
may be critical as children are less likely than
adults to have been exposed to other dialects or
variations of their own language. They are also likely
to be functioning at a lower level of linguistic proficiency
than adult asylum seekers. For both these
reasons a poorly trained or unsympathetic Home
Office interpreter 37 can be fatal to their claim.
Statement of Evidence Form. Children subjected to
an interview of this nature are likely to suffer further
and unnecessary trauma.
Legal representation
The Immigration Rules require the presence of a
legal representative or other adult, to take responsibility
for any unaccompanied or separated child being
interviewed. 36 However, there is no requirement
that either the interviewer or the responsible adult
have any legal responsibility for the unaccompanied
or separated child. The only stipulation is that an
interview cannot go ahead if the only adult present
is an immigration or police officer or a Home Office
official. The Immigration Service have indicated that
the role of a “responsible adult” can be taken by a
social worker, relative, foster carer, doctor, or priest.
There is no requirement that the “responsible adult”
have any training for, experience of, or aptitude
for this role and therefore this requirement does
little to safeguard an unaccompanied or separated
child’s interests.
Rigid targets and political agenda guiding
the determination process
The Government’s political agenda has an impact
on the manner in which children’s asylum applications
are processed. The Immigration and Nationality
Directorate aims to reach a decision on 80% of
applications by unaccompanied or separated children
within two months of the application being made.
Although there are dedicated teams of case workers
deciding upon applications from unaccompanied
children, 38 this agenda puts pressure on these case
workers to make decisions very quickly. While it is in
accordance with good child care practice that there
should be the least possible delay in reaching a decision
on an asylum application from an unaccompanied
or separated child, setting rigid targets for a decision
is not necessarily in an unaccompanied or separated
child’s best interests.
Unnecessary/fatal delays
in the determination process
In contrast, once an unaccompanied or separated
child has completed his or her application, an
Hosted by www.ijjo.org
193