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of someone who might be an unaccompanied or
separated child they should be given immediate
attention if possible. 5 Where an unaccompanied or
separated child claims to be joining an adult already
in the U.K., and the child is of an age to be able to
answer questions, an immigration officer ascertains
the child’s name and date of birth and whether the
child is joining relatives or family friends. A Warning
Index Computerised Check is carried out to check
the suitability of the adult carer. 6 If the checks do
not reveal anything negative, and the child is travelling
as part of an organised group or is going to
be a student at a bona fide establishment, leave to
enter is likely to be granted at this point. Otherwise
the adult sponsor is asked to attend an interview
In order to prepare immigration officers for
and provide proof of identity. 7 Checks are also
their new and enhanced role, the Government made
made with the local Criminal Intelligence Division,
an undertaking in September 2003, to provide them
INDIS (local intelligence records) and the Police
with more training so that they could more easily
National Computer. 8
identify children at risk when they arrived at ports of
If the adult is deemed unfit to care for the
entry. 12 A three day “Interviewing Minors” training
child, the Immigration Service contact the local
course was devised by the Immigration and Nation-
social services department and ask it to accommo-
ality Directorate College and training commenced
date the unaccompanied or separated child. 9 If
on 3 November 2003. Recognizing signs that a child
social services decline to do so and the Immigra-
may have been trafficked was said to be an important
tion Service is still concerned about the child, it
aspect of this course. 13 The aim was to train 10% of
SEEKING ASYLUM ALONE | UNITED KINGDOM
42
contacts the Child Protection Officer at the local
police station, who applies for a police protection
order 10 in relation to the child. This leads to the
involvement of the local family court which can
direct that social services undertake an assessment
of the risk entailed in allowing the child to go to
live with the adult in question. 11
Meanwhile if at any time the unaccompanied
or separated child discloses any information which
relates to a criminal activity, such as child abuse
or child trafficking, any interview is terminated
and the police contacted. Similarly if a child indicates
that he or she wishes to claim asylum, an
asylum screening interview is arranged as soon
as possible.
operational staff at each port of entry with no less
than four officers being trained in the smaller ports.
By March 2004 approximately 200 immigration officers
were due to be trained and further courses
were planned for 2004–2006 with a target of 600
trained staff by March 2005. Staff who have been
through this training have formed “Minors Teams”
at the port and have dealt with unaccompanied or
separated minors arriving at that port, working
closely with social services, the police, and child
protection officers. Dover East and Heathrow Terminal
Two were the first ports to establish such
teams. Initially other ports just had a nominated
officer responsible for matters relating to unaccompanied
or separated children.
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