OMFG Children being kidnapped from Home Office Hotel

[MorelloKisses]

Children kidnapped from Home Office hotel

"A whistleblower, who works for Home Office, describes children being abducted off the street outside the hotel and bundled into cars".

How is this not top news story?? Those poor children.

It sounds like they need a more caring environment with a high staff ratio.

LOL, do let us know how we're going to be paying for that when we can't even do basic stuff like investigate burglaries or run enough ambulances?

There is no money for the level of supervision you'd need to stop this happening and nobody wants to take on 17yos from unknown backgrounds. The way people stepped up to take on Ukrainians was unprecedented, and was connected to the fact that the people were overwhelmingly mothers and their young kids.

Really? We’ve both been on lots of asylum seeker threads and I’ve seen solutions on those threads. I’ve even given some of them 😉

You say Labour and the left are short of ideas, but given that Conservative policies have led to kidnapped children and haven’t reduced boat crossings at all, do you think their policies are working?

And, of course, it’s ok for lots of people who aren’t politicians, charity workers or immigration lawyers to not have answers. How would they? But people posting about how bad this is are raising awareness which is an essential first step in changing any system.

Just as well a higher staff ratio wasn’t my only suggestion then, and I doubt the government are reading my posts to help them make decisions anyway.

Even if it doesn’t necessarily stop them leaving if there’s a high level of caring and trained staff they may be easier able to spot the signs of a child who is being trafficked, and escalate a head of time. They may also be able to take more notes of where the child is going - such as number plate or model of van they are going into, compared to it they’re understaffed and not paid or treated well enough to really care.

Mostly on this thread it’s been proper monitoring / staff ratio / fostering

No I don’t think they are solutions but they sound nice enough. It’s not dealing with a gang issue though.

And usually when asked more it’s - I can’t say more so yeh there does seem to be a difficulty with answers

I imagine the money could come from wherever they found the money for the fraudulent Medpro contracts. Failing that there’s always the £350 million from brexit. Or raising tax and NI for the rich. Or sorting out tax avoidance. Or the housing crisis. Or preventative measures that sure, cost money at first, but save it in the long run.

@MarshaBradyo And why is there no money for proper ratios in fostering (even for British kids?) There’s a common theme isn’t there, of the damage that austerity and underfunding communities has done.

Solutions offered on previous threads included safe routes, which would reduce the need for traffickers. Which would reduce the very problem we’re seeing now. Perhaps those two points aren’t closely related though in people’s minds.

Ok I appreciate the further explanation but I doubt gang leaders are bad at this.

If males are going because they fear harm to their family it is pre arranged, it’s part of the trafficking.

I’m not saying there are easy answers but the first step imo should be to understand what is driving the pick ups and how they happen.

Trafficked people leave where they are staying because that’s the agreement. Monitoring on site won’t change it, as they can easily walk about of sight.

How do you know if the place you're using is based on slave labour?

Genuine question as I can't see how you tell and if you avoid using places that are mainly based on foreign labour, isn't that being racist and playing to negative stereotypes? (I'm thinking about where I get my nails done which is a legitimate shop on a busy high street but all staff are from Vietnam and only a couple of them speak English to a standard that's easily understandable).

@XanaduKira I understand what you mean about not wanting to make assumptions. Here’s a couple of links with things to look out for. Some (like accommodation) you won’t have any idea about, but other things may be more obvious.

www.unseenuk.org/about-modern-slavery/spot-the-signs/

www.antislavery.org/slavery-today/spot-the-signs-of-slavery/

And a screenshot in case the links don’t work.

Except, as has already been pointed out, this is incorrect. Big difference between “disputed” and “actual”.

The Refugee Council has run an Age Disputes Project since 2010. Last year, the it worked with 233 young people whom the Home Office determined to “certainly” be adults. But, after age assessments, 94% were found to be children.
amp.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/sep/30/home-office-age-disputes-child-asylum-seekers-abuse-risk

I can appreciate that the article you read didn’t make it clear that these were just cases being disputed and not actual verdicts, but now you know you need to stop spreading misconceptions. Because the more people who believe this, the less pressure there is on the government to deal with these children going missing, and the more children will end up in forced labour and forced prostitution.

Thanks @BewareTheLibrarians - thankfully none of those signs appear to be true for nail salon I go to, which is good.

Just to clarify a few points

There is nothing suspect about having 1 an as a birth date, people without birth dates get one formally issued - as I am sure you can appreciate- you need to give a date of birth so often in society that people without one need to have something to say.

secondly - yes primary aged children are trafficked and enslaved in cannabis factories and other industries in the UK. I have cared for several as an emergency foster carer when they have been found by the police, impossible to guess ages when children are long term malnourished, but under 10, certainly

sorry * first Jan - dodgy "J" key!

@BewareTheLibrarians but now you know you need to stop spreading misconceptions.

Err, excuse me, I don't believe I have spread any 'misconceptions'.

@ShelaghsCottage You posted the Home Office’s claim that out of a number of children assessed, 2/3 were adults. However, when independent groups carried out age assessments, the Home Office was found to have incorrectly assessed children as adults in 94% of cases. While that doesn’t mean all Home Office assessments are wrong, it certainly casts a lot of doubt on their ability to correctly assess age, and their transparency about admitting this.

As I said, you’re not at fault for taking a Home Office statement at its word. But further investigation showed that statement to be untrue, and it’s important to highlight that.

@BewareTheLibrarians However, when independent groups carried out age assessments, the Home Office was found to have incorrectly assessed children as adults in 94% of cases

Link, please.

I work in this area and I have to say the hysteria of ‘children’ being mentioned makes me sigh!

A massive amount of these ‘children’ are generally late teens with a date of birth of 1st January and state they are 16/17. If someone states they are under 18, they must be treated as if they are until it is determined otherwise.

The age assessment process is restrictive in that no medical checks can be used. It’s down to an interview with a social worker who will try to gauge the age from questioning. These young people are aware they will be interviewed.

All the ‘children’ in the dinghies from France have been trafficked. There is literally no other way for them to have been in one.

They are put up in hotels initially as there are certainly not registered foster carers available at the drop of a hat with free places to take on unknown ‘children’ who have just arrived in the country with no paperwork especially when the foster carer may already have other vulnerable children in their home! They have to be spread all over the country but first a suitable foster carer has to be located.

It’s hardly like the government can say, we’re forecast 4 dinghies coming over today, could be around 10 people claiming to be children in each, let’s put 40 foster carers on standby! Utter madness! There isn’t enough foster carers for children already living in the UK!

Sometimes the young person slips up later on and the foster carer says they have given a different date of birth and we see quite a few who are age assessed as over 18, months after they have arrived.

What is happening is that a LOT of group homes are springing up and taking 5/6 at a time and are paid a considerable amount of money. A lot of young people also ‘go missing’ as they go to live with relatives who are already in the UK.

Also a large amount of ‘teenage boys’ claiming they are transgender and want to be known as a female name. They give this as the reason that they are being persecuted on their asylum claim. Obviously this may be true but there seems to be an explosion of transgender young people then, especially in Albania!

www.refugeecouncil.org.uk/latest/news/hundreds-of-refugee-children-are-being-mistakenly-judged-as-adults-and-at-risk-of-abuse-and-neglect-due-to-hasty-and-woeful-home-office-decision-making-refugee-council-repo/

@ShelaghsCottage The link was in my previous post to you, but here it is again

amp.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/sep/30/home-office-age-disputes-child-asylum-seekers-abuse-risk

From that article, relevant to your post:

The data the government does publish on age assessments can be open to misinterpretation. The organisation Full Fact found some media outlets had incorrectly stated that two-thirds of asylum seekers arriving in the UK between January 2018 and March 2022 who claimed to be children were actually adults. In fact, it showed roughly 20% were in fact adults.

Here’s a link the the Refugee Councils report:

www.refugeecouncil.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Identity-Crisis-September-2022.pdf

It was also brought up in the Home Affairs Committee meeting with the Home Secretary. I’ve added screenshots of the relevant parts, but the 100 page link is here

committees.parliament.uk/oralevidence/11600/pdf/

Well let’s face it, if these young people had proof of age with them, age assessments wouldn’t be necessary.

What is the reason NONE of them have ID do you think?

In this day and age. every country will have some form of ID.

Quite, if only there was a safe and simple way for these desperate people to come to the UK and feel safe they would probably have ID.

If you work in this area why don’t you know the answer to this question?

The lack of compassion in your post suggests you shouldn’t be working with vulnerable people and kids. But it probably means you are authentic. 🙄

What do you think it is? That they’re all fleeing a war zone?