To think only 3 of the 15 migrant children look under 18

[AmyMiller]

www.google.co.uk/amp/www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3843900/amp/First-migrant-children-arrive-UK-Calais-French-prepare-raze-Jungle-camp-ground.html?client=safari

This is so ridiculous, many of them look around 25.

www.thelocal.fr/20161018/interpreter-raped-near-calais-jungle-migrant-camp

It is frightening that we have photographs or men in their 20s/30s, that foster carers are expressing concerns, teachers and head teachers are also, and some insist that they are children because they know a 16 year old with a beard ...

Exactly yesterday

There are countless threads of MNETTERS flapping should a kid over the age of 8 be in the wrong sex changing room yet here people are happy for people blatantly much older than claimed, being in the same class and inevitably on residential trips with kids much younger....

Comparisons to the Belgian refugees in WWI are ludicrous. The vast majority were returned very soon after, there was no question, pre-welfare state, of them being given a lifetime of British citizenship, welfare payments, housing, free healthcare and education. Even the Kindertransport was funded by individual donations, not the public in general. The kind of immigration advocated by some on this thread is simply not compatible with modern welfare states.

It's pretty shit that anyone would feel that lucky just to be in a country where they have a future.

What? I feel bloody lucky to be in a country where I believe I have a future! I really don't understand what you mean by this!

Exactly, yesterdaysunshine. I just don't get why people are standing for it. There is the piece from the Kentish paper, and my dsis was teaching in a Kent school and observing this very thing, yet it all has to be brushed under the carpet .

I will absolutely not be standing for it if a 25-year-old man is placed in my dd's class, that's for sure.

I am really not convinced that all of these children are under 18. DH is an Arab (and came to the UK as a refugee as it happens) and we regularly travel to North Africa. Some of these children look a fair bit older than DH's teenage family members.

I would be angry if places for vulnerable child refugees are taken by adults.

I certainly think that someone has handed the Daily Fail the sort of photo op that Paul Dacre must dream about.

Lots of other news outlets including the Guardian have published the pictures of these 'children' not just the Mail.

Sorry my point wasn't clear. What I meant was the selection of older "teenagers" who may or may not be the age they say they are is fuel for the Daily Mail.

If it had been younger children looking a bit bemused and vulnerable then people would have felt much more comfortable that this was a good thing to be doing.

Me neither Rhodabull. My vulnerable teenage daughter only attends school on the understanding that all the adults in the school have undergone the correct police check. I wasn't even allowed to accompany her on transport because I haven't been checked.

I am now at the point where I am really angry.

Apparently, there are actual children (as in under 11s) still left at the Calais camp. The Home Office has allowed males who are quite clearly over 18 in almost all cases into the country, is not using dental checks to confirm age and left kids in Calais.

What the fuck is going on? What the fuck are they playing at?

Our government have probably done this deliberately so we all lose our rag and refuse to let anymore in. Vile

I would be interested to hear what schools they are planning to place these "boys" in.

I suppose some people would claim dental records aren't completely accurate and a 30-year-old may well have the teeth of a 14-year-old. Mind you, I would have passed - I never lost my milk teeth! Gosh, do you think if I destroyed all my identifying documents etc I could enrol at junior school? I do enjoy the run-up to Christmas...

I did think some looked much older than 18 tbh but then I saw a photograph of dds year 9/10 class and realised some of the boys look just as old.

They've been virtually living rough for a couple of years. Of course they look older.

I don't figging care how old they are, all that matters is that they are in need and we help.

I wish we would take women and families from the migrant camps in Turkey however.

Bitof - UASCs are not routinely repatriated when they turn 18

Their cases are considered, and if it is safe and appropriate for them to return home, arrangements are made for them them to do so. If it is not - the case for the vast majority of Syrians, Eritreans, Afghans right now - then they will be given some form of discretionary leave. After a period of time they qualify to apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain and then citizenship, if they so wish.

Totally agree, jdoe.

if the 'children' have relatives (said to be proven|) in this country - these relatives could confirm the age of these 'children'
the reason these 'children' are fast-tracked is because the Home Office have bowed to the angst that families must be re-united
I would assume that these children being nearly 16/17 would be treated as other 16/17 yo in this country - and will be supported by their family members already here and not by social services.
Sadly I am being sarcastic - I would whole-heartedly support any 'vulnerable' children with family here being fast-tracked but I think we are being taken for a ride.

I can kind of understand the person who didn't want '25 year olds' in the same class as her 14 year old girl.

The adults in dds school are referenced and crb checked, have separate toilets and break areas.

A 25 year old man who has come from an horrific traumatic experience in a society where girls are sometimes viewed very differently in her class would bother me. Not because I think all 25 year olds are rapists but because we have rules in place in the UK to protect our children and the refuges themselves are vulnerable too.

But then that is completely irrational because a 14 year old is of just as much risk to her so I cannot explain why it would bother me so much.

If you think this fella looks 14-17 you are either delusional or visually impaired.

Meanwhile a 9 year old Eritrean boy is stuck at the camp and refused entry because he has his Dad with him. So fucked up.

Meanwhile a 9 year old Eritrean boy is stuck at the camp and refused entry because he has his Dad with him
Where's his Mum?

Bitof - UASCs are not routinely repatriated when they turn 18

I should have said they can be repatriated at 18. I know several Afghans who have been returned perhaps they were just unlucky. But as they were potential child abusing misogynist rapists that was a lucky escape for us all.

Or this youngster