Grown men pretending to be children

[Happypie]

AIBU to be very worried that safeguarding has broken down in England. I have worked in several schools in London where some of the newly arrived “children” were grown men. We have complained to social services and they admitted that the pupils were blatantly men but there was nothing they could do.
These men are being put into classes and foster homes with actual children.
We do not allow adults without DBS checks to have unfettered access to children unless they pretend to be children.
Head teachers hands are also tied. The only way to change things seems to be through parent complaints like in the story below. This is not safeguarding. www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/uk-england-suffolk-46070239

@shreddedbanksy how does that stat pan out against demographics?

Exactly, LFTE, If, overall in the UK, the "white" population is, what? Just under 90%?? (please feel free to correct me if that's way out), then clearly the numbers of white offenders are going to be greater.

Approximately 90% of all men who have been convicted of child sexual offences in this country are white.

In line with the proportion of the population that is white then, but I'm sure if there were gangs of white men going around grooming girls it would definitely be in the press. Individuals - yes - no-one is disputing that.

However, the point I was making is that the Asian grooming gangs were going about their nefarious business with impunity for many years, largely because police forces up and down the country were afraid of being accused of racism if they'd followed up the information they had.

It's unethical to lie about your age and it's unethical to apply for asylum under false circumstances. It's also unethical to prioritize the negligible "rights" of an immigrant of questionable origin over the rights of verified children.

I don't have a problem requiring documentation to prove age and when none is available, to be subject to extra requirements. Such as, the ability of a school to say "buddy, you look like you're 30 years old, get out".

With respect grooming gangs were made up of British citizens and not refugees.

It was less about racism fears and more about a society which judged the girls reporting abuse.

But they are subject to extra requirements - social services age assessments.

The vast majority of asylum seekers come from countries where identity documents just don't exist. Main sources of child asylum seekers are countries who don't record births (eg Afghanistan, Sudan) or records are likely destroyed by war (Syria) so there just isn't a way of proving age

Well, if they really are the age they say they are, then wouldn't they be glad of an opportunity to prove it, via x-ray or whatever?

It might be unethical to lie about your age. But people who are desperate probably don't have so many scruples.

My DH is from Middle East.
When I told him about this he too said that the teenagers there do look older. Then I showed him the picture. "Bloody hell. Not that old tho!"
He agreed that's certainly not a 15 year old.

I had once met few guys through my friend who came here as refugees long time ago. After few (lots) drinks they said, while having a chat about how difficult that must be for lonely under 18s, that they themselves and lots of others they knew burned their pasports and claimed to be under 18... They were 22-25 at the time of arrival...
I seriously thought they were joking. They weren't.

Scruples or not, we cannot be soft-touch Britain.

Pray your own child is never far from home.

I'd hope that the country involved would have the good sense to use modern science to work out that my child was in fact, a child. Like you know, Sweden does.

It might be unethical to lie about your age. But people who are desperate probably don't have so many scruples.

True but that doesn't mean that children or teenagers need to pay the price of their desperation. That has the potential to create another group of desperate victims.

I work in immigration law representing asylum seekers with their claims. It's very frustrating for us because no matter how old they say they are we have to treat them as that age even when the Home Office age assesses them as over 18, thus they go forward then on treating them as an adult. We can't.
When they claim to be a minor it means they get a higher set of funding under legal aid than those who are (admit to being) adults and it's a lot more time and effort spent on the client's case too. We have to accept everything they're telling us as the truth and act on their instructions. When they're blatantly well over 18 it's all we can do to stop from calling them out on it and to ask them to stop taking the piss out of us. It's also damaging for genuine minors who are all tarred with the same brush.

It's also damaging for genuine minors who are all tarred with the same brush.

Exactly. And that's really worrying.

@OftenHangry Definitely. There are many who are clearly children accused of being adults by the Home Office and arrested and detained in immigration detention centres which is awful.

Look, the champagne socialist guardianistas couldn't give a flying fuck if grown men are dumped into state comps to pose a safeguarding risk to children. As long as little Crispin at his independent isn't affected, they’ll wave it on and expect a pat on the back for their ’fairness and tolerance’ too.

I've taught a "boy" like this. I forget where he was from exactly - he spoke Farsi, if that helps. He was supposedly 15 but he did let slip to me that he was over 18. We reported it but noone cared. He was nice enough and I understood why he did it. We lived very near an immigration detention center which has a terrible reputation. The other students knew he was older - they called him the "bloke in his 20s".

if they really are the age they say they are, then wouldn't they be glad of an opportunity to prove it, via x-ray or whatever?

This is a point which is raised again and again on here

... and, interestingly, never answered

I'm sure they would if the science was guaranteed to be correct, which it isn't.

I see this nonsense time and time again.

‘But children from X country look older than British teens.’

No. No, they do not. Someone going through puberty does not get wrinkles, grey hair and elongation of the jaw.

And they still look like children.

Let’s not pretend it’s somehow impossible to tell. If I put a grey wig on a 15 year old they would still look like a 15 year old with grey hair.