U.K. 'Quietly' announced it won't be taking anymore unaccompanied child refugees

[Motherofhowmany]

Absolutely appalling, we've only resettled 350 of the promised 3000.

I work with some of these children. The things they have seen are horrendous.

www.independent.co.uk/news/only-350-syrian-refugee-children-will-be-allowed-to-settle-in-britain-thousands-less-than-promised-a7569691.html

Sorry, that was to woodhill, who asked about councils' funding problems.

It's not just about money though. It's having the people that are prepared to mother them and care for them in a home.

Oliversmumsarmy, I can see you're very worried about women and children.

The UN High Commission for Refugees and the Red Cross are absolutely desperate for money to look after whole families displaced in Syria and to nearby countries. This is a case where "just money" really does help.

Donations through British Red Cross can have Gift Aid added for UK taxpayers.
www.unhcr.org
www.redcross.org.uk/Donate-Now/Make-a-single-donation/Syria-Crisis-Appeal

I am just observing the lack of women and children and the refugees fleeing Syria are mainly men.

I ask the question if it is ok for women and children to be left behind then really can it be that bad.

thisisthereality Thank you very much for your informative post, describing the reality of the situation. It's good to hear the voice of experience on here.

JeNeSuisPasVotreMiel Fri 10-Feb-17 10:30:29
Floggingmolly the 3,000 is not an arbitary figure; it's the number of minors identified by the Home Office who have families in the UK who are ready and able to care for them.

I'd really really like to know how the HomeOffice have arrived at the conclusion that there are up to 3000 families in the UK 'ready and able' to care for these children. Have they actually assessed all the families? Has this job been allocated to each LA's already overstretched SW's? Have they even actually even made contact? How can they know that these families are actually related to the children until the children are here?

And even if, somehow, in this lovely ideal, these families have all been met and interviewed, they have been dbs checked, are there and waiting with a lovely bedroom and a local school around the corner with a space....will these children still require on going Social Work? Or will they be deemed to be happy and safe and living with their families? Because I guess every one of these families will have suitable accommodation?

This doesn't ring true, I don't believe it

Oh. I thought you were worried about women and children, and wanted to help them.

If you click the British Red Cross link you'll see that yes, it really is that bad.

Sorry, that was in reply to Oliversmumsarmy.

thisisthereality for the work you've done for all children and minors, regardless where from.

So how come it's the men who are first off the starting blocks?

Would giving money make any difference to the culture.

There's also a famine in Yemen, and the recent retaking of areas of Iraq from Daesh have left a lot of families displaced.

There's not a shortage of need, unfortunately.

More here www.redcross.org.uk/What-we-do/Emergency-response/Current-emergency-appeals

Men are more likely to have travelled this far as it is less dangerous for them and far easier to travel as a young man or teenager than as a young girl or woman with children. These refugees will mostly be stuck in camps closer to the Syrian border.

So the church has to provide extra stuff because no one will tell the men who are in the communal room that they have to share

I don't think it was a case of the men not being told to share but more the case that a lot of the women had been through really traumatic events before reaching the UK those traumatic events often involved men as perpetrators. For a woman to be I. The communal room
With her young children whilst perhaps a dozen young men were also in he room at the same time was too intimidating and frightening. The church helped the male refugees by providing a used clothing service twice a week but the main work was in providing somewhere that the women could go on a daily basis with their children where they would be made to feel safe and welcome. It's work like this that my local church does that really opened my eyes to the way in which so many asylum seekers are left with nothing and are only helped due to charities and churches. Anybody who thinks a church is just a place of religion is very wrong as I discovered that my local church is as much about helping others as it is about religion.

It was also shocking to see how the asylum seekers were often moved to other accommodation with zero warning. They would be visiting the church one day and then they would be moved early next morning and would again have to endure a frightening journey to a new and unknown location.

Anyway, sorry for the derail. I don't really know what the answer is in regard to taking more asylum seeking children and the age of asylum seekers debate. I think it would be nice to help as many children as possible but with social care creaking at the seams due to finding issues in not sure we can afford it without sacrificing those already in need of social care who live here.

Oliversmumsarmy, if you're interested in culture, UNICEF & Girls Not Brides are doing good work against child-marriage, which is rising among displaced Syrian children.

IIUC, marriage is already permitted at a young age in Syria, Jordan and Lebanon. But with rations having been cut among refugees (due of lack of international funding) parents are prepared to marry off their daughters younger to secure them a home, food and some level of protection from sexual violence. (NB UNICEF is using 18 as the cut off age for "child"; obvs in the UK you can get married at 16; some of the Syrians are married much younger than 16.)

More info here:
www.unfpa.org/news/new-study-finds-child-marriage-rising-among-most-vulnerable-syrian-refugees#
www.girlsnotbrides.org/child-marriage/jordan/

More on UNICEF's work here: www.unicef.org/infobycountry/syria_70772.html
[Manal's] mother explains that she stopped sending her children to school in their hometown of Daraa after 11 of their classmates were killed by a bomb they found in the schoolyard. No longer able to cope with the escalating violence, the family fled to Jordan.

Soon after their arrival, Manal’s father, Thabet, arranged for her to marry a 22-year-old man. Thabet says that many fathers believe marriage offers protection for their daughters and takes financial pressures off the family. “Some people want their daughters to get married because of the cost of living, especially if the family is big,” he says. “Marriage will also ensure my daughter’s future if anything bad happens to me.”

But Manal refused. She had enrolled in a UNICEF-supported school and also attended a youth centre run by UNICEF and the NGO International Medical Corps, where young people can learn life skills, socialize and get psychosocial support to help heal the emotional wounds of living through conflict and displacement.

Manal told staff at the youth centre about her engagement. Through counseling sessions she learned that marriage wasn’t her only option...

With the support of her mother, who herself married at age 15, and the staff at the youth centre, Manal approached her father and said she wanted to stay in school instead of getting married.... Eventually her father agreed, and Manal is now finishing her first semester of grade 10."

Donation page for UNICEF here, if you're interested: www.unicef.org.uk/donate/

I ask the question if it is ok for women and children to be left behind then really can it be that bad*

Not that bad? Not that fucking bad? What an idiotic thing to say.

I think this is what people are talking about when they say the ages do seem a little bit suspicious. Caption reads: "A 16 year old from Ethiopia cries while he awaits registration.... in Calais"

In Sweden the estimates for migrants lying about their age are much higher because what's on offer is amazing. Pretty much your whole extended family can come to Sweden on the back of your asylum being granted.

There are so many male refugees reporting their age as 16-17 right now that there are 123 boys aged 16-17 in Sweden for every 100 girls aged 16-17.

Even China's 1 child policy and decades of gender selective abortions and infanticide cannot rival this sex ratio, their own for the same age group is 117/100.

I don't understand what the OP means by "Quietly announced", should there have been more noise, a fanfare or some kind of ceremony perhaps?
It was on the BBC news and reported in newspapers and other media outlets.

That's a picture of a supposed 16 year old?

reality I have a family member who fostered for years and said similar things to you. They have stopped doing it as they were burnt out in the end. to you and all the other foster families out there.
However I don't believe what reality said can be a great shock to anyone as I don't think anyone was really expecting that the 3000 would all be involved in some Love Actually style reunion at Gatwick. But as has been said above the reason the system is on its knees has a lot to do with chronic underfunding and cuts as part of the austerity ideology. As is the reality with lots of the struggling public services. I still believe that a rich country should be able to take in and care for 3000 unaccompanied children and if we can't then something is severely wrong with how we operate and our values. I am no expert, I don't know what the solution is although am guessing more investment and higher tax brackets may go part way to improving things but I cannot believe there is no solution if the will to find one is there.

But the men were head of their households in Germany Poland and elsewhere in Europe with that comes the responsibility of saving your family not leaving them to their fate

We are used to a culture that put woman and children first. But unfortunately migrants are now coming from countries where the culture/religion puts the mans survival first. That is why we should be taking refugees from the camps around Syria (which we are) ie women and children and not the men trying to break in illegally.

I don't understand what the OP means by "Quietly announced"

Because it was announced just before parliamentary recess.

Here is Theresa May with Nicholas Winton unveiling a statue of him in her Maidenhead constituency. She was happy to honour him and associate herself and her constituency with him when he was alive and the statue is there on the station for all to see when arriving on the train from London. I can't help thinking he would rather have not have had the statue, but seen Britain continue to help child refugees.

Floggingmolly Yes I know.... Also from Ethiopia!

Jesus... I know the poor guy, whoever he is, has seen war, and he does look haunted, God love him, but; are we supposed to accept that he has a right to a place in a school with genuine other 16 year olds?
That's terrifying.

The most terrifying thing is that anyone who is registered a child will presumably be placed in a school with other children! If anyone is wondering about the legitimacy of the picture I posted, here is a link to the tweet from the official Guardian twitter account.