Hosted by www.ijjo.org

Chapter 7 | Accommodation and Care of Unaccompanied or Separated Children
“[Unaccompanied or separated] children react to
such experiences in different ways. In order to
assess their needs, time and trust are needed.
[Unaccompanied or separated] children may feel
under pressure to keep secret both information
and their feelings. Providing an opportunity for
children to talk about their experiences over time
and imparting to them a sense of belonging will
enable them to develop confidence in their new
surroundings.” 42
Not only does this failure damage the chances of
individual unaccompanied or separated children
obtaining protection, it also potentially contravenes
Article 18.2 of the Council Directive Laying Down
Minimum Standards for the Reception of Asylum
Seekers 43 which states:
Member States shall ensure access to rehabilitation
services for minors who have been victims of any form
of abuse, neglect, exploitation, torture or cruel, inhuman
and degrading treatment, or who have suffered
from armed conflicts, and ensure that appropriate
mental health care is developed and qualified counselling
is provided when needed.
This failure to respond has serious consequences:
once an unaccompanied or separated child’s psychiatric
or psychological needs are identified he or she
is entitled to free treatment under the National Health
Services as an asylum seeker and good practice
appears to have been developed in many hospitals
and clinics for treating unaccompanied or separated
children. However, neither the Department of Health
nor the Department for Education and Skills has
adopted any National Plan or agreed referral system
to ensure that the psychiatric and psychological needs
of unaccompanied or separated children are identified
in the first place. This means that there is a “post
code lottery” with some unaccompanied or separated
children being referred for very high quality
treatment whilst others receive no treatment at all.
There is also no national strategy to ensure that
the good practice which exists is disseminated and
shared. The specialist treatment and counselling
offered in London at places such as the Tavistock
Centre in Swiss Cottage, the Traumatic Stress Clinic
in Harley Street, or the Medical Foundation for the
Care of Victims of Torture in Islington has been
developed as a result of individual initiatives to
meet patient and lawyer demand. Many unaccompanied
or separated children are not able to access
these three centres of excellence as they have very
long waiting lists and are all situated in London.
Some individual psychiatrists, psychologists, and
hospitals are providing very good quality services in
other parts of the U.K. but there is no central coordination
of the funding and training necessary to
ensure that every unaccompanied or separated
child in need of rehabilitation services has speedy
access to the treatment he or she requires. This finding
echoes more general research carried out into
the mental health needs of asylum seekers which
reveals that services in this area are concentrated in
London as a result of grassroots initiatives, and that
this leads to severe problems for service providers
trying to organize programmes of care for asylum
seekers dispersed from London. 44 85
Hosted by www.ijjo.org