"The board employs more than 50 social workers to conduct the assessments, but some children have said they are out to get them. The report finds that in some cases the process has led to children's deteriorating mental health, including self-harm and suicidal ideation, and that going through a Home Office age assessment is far more severe and traumatic than a comparable experience with a local authority social worker."
"If children are wrongly assessed as adults they will be placed in adult accommodation, often alongside unrelated people, which can put them at risk. Some have ended up in adult prisons after being charged with offences relating to their journey to the UK, such as steering a dinghy. The report cites the case of one child who was 15 on arrival but was assessed by the Home Office to be seven years older than his true age and charged with offences relating to his arrival."
A coalition of refugee support groups has called for the Home Office national age assessment board (NAAB) to be axed, arguing it places hundreds of children at risk. The NAAB was established in March 2023 to determine ages of young asylum seekers arriving in the UK. More than 50 social workers conduct the assessments, but children report the process as adversarial and distressing. Age assessments have been linked to deteriorating mental health, self-harm and suicidal ideation. Wrongful adult determinations have led to placement in adult accommodation and prosecutions; many initially declared adults are later confirmed as children by local authority assessments, and some judges have criticised the NAAB process as flawed and inconsistent with guidance.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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