CALL TO ACTION RE 3000 CHILD REFUGEES

[fallingapartfast]

CALL TO ACTION! If you have or know kids who can write at all, please get them to write to David Cameron regarding the hideous and shameful decision by the Government not to give refuge to 3000 unaccompanied children fleeing war. The goal is to get 3000 letters through his letterbox by the end of the week.
Write to:
The Rt Hon David Cameron MP
Prime Minister
10 Downing Street
London
SW1A 2AA
Please share this far and wide on your social media networks and pass on the idea by word of mouth

[hownottofuckup]

Great reply one how long did it take you to think that one up?

[hownottofuckup]

Red I believe the idea is we take an extra 3000 children directly from the camp's? Otherwise I would agree with you.

[MuddhaOfSuburbia]

yeah let's pull up the drawbridge

poor us in the world's 5th largest economy

oh wait

we could always just insist that our goverment taxes everyone properly and funds education health housing welfare pensions and social services with it?

just a thought

[OneWingWonder]

hownotto

Wait, you just said you would "absolutely" like to pay towards the 3000 you want the country to take - the sum I mentioned would pay for just 1 of them. If you don't want to or can't afford it, then why on earth should the rest of the country be forced to pay for your virtue-signalling?

[OneWingWonder]

hownotto

"Red I believe the idea is we take an extra 3000 children directly from the camp's? Otherwise I would agree with you."

Wrong again - the opposition parties wanted the 3000 taken from within Europe itself, thus creating a massive and counterproductive pull factor.

[redhat]

hownot no I don't think that's right. Our agreement is to take from the camps in turkey etc where the refugees have complied with the rules to stay in camps in the first safe country immediately outside their own country. These 3000 children are in Calais/elsewhere in Europe and have been brought in by traffickers crossing Europe to get to Calais.

[Cheeseburglar]

I'm a foster carer,have worked with unaccompanied children as well as uk teenagers. I certainly don't think we have the capacity to take 3000 children from the camps, as our resources are stretched to breaking in the uk. Support the children in situ but for goodness sake no increase. And yes, the majority are young men.

[VertigoNun]

Cheese what LA are you in?

[ItsJustAnotherUsername]

We are taking refugee children. These young boys were offered shelter at a care facility in Kent where they raped a vulnerable young girl. So no thanks. You are of course free to offer up your child's bedroom if you wish OP.

www.maidstoneandmedwaynews.co.uk/8203-Teenage-girl-gang-raped-migrants-Gillingham/story-28127360-detail/story.html

[hownottofuckup]

Red apologies, I do agree with the concerns you raise on that front.

[Cheeseburglar]

I'm in the South East

[VertigoNun]

Are people in your area refusing to foster certain refugees?

[Cheeseburglar]

Anotherusername - yes, it's important that these things are spoken about. There can be a lot of dangers around taking these teenagers into our homes. After all, we don't know who they really are or what their intentions are. It's tricky enough with teenagers from the uk when we have pages of history and can speak to their teachers about them. After all, I can lock my bedroom door at night, but the other foster children in my home do not have lock on their doors. There's a lot of risk analysis that has to be considered before fostering.

[Cheeseburglar]

We are matched to the children and teenagers Vertigo, so different families suit different children. I foster teenagers, but wouldn't take a baby or young child for example. We get a say in who lives with us to a degree.

[MoggyP]

www.theguardian.com/society/2015/jun/03/8000-shortage-foster-families-demand-carers-bbc-series

This said that last year there was a shortfall of 8,000 foster families.

Even allowing for some of the proposed 3,000 being siblings so the number of families required being a bit lower, have there really been about 10,000 new foster families signing up in the last 12 months?

[GlitteryShoes]

Newly approved foster carers would struggle with the complexities of refugee children - it's not a case of approving lots of people, they need training and support. Many evacuees and refugee children in the war were abused in true host families, we need proper systems in place. However, it's an extremely rewarding role and I would urge anyone interested in the issue to look into fostering in general :)

[ChardonnayKnickertonSmythe]

Newly approved foster parents, such as OP, maybe, could foster less demanding cases, so the experienced ones can take on the refugee children.

[SirChenjin]

Perhaps the more experienced ones might not want to take them. Perhaps there might not be enough experienced ones in one LA. Perhaps it's just a ridiculous idea to start with.

[GlitteryShoes]

It's about matching. Most of the UASC are older teenage boys with PTSD. They are not a good match for many families through reasons of culture, existing children in placement, availability of suitable schools etc. It's very complicated. I don't know what the solution is, but as a foster Carer I know we can't just accommodate 3000 children without huge infrastructure changes. The current provision for UASC is pitiful and unspecialised.

[howtorebuild]

There won't be public support for teen males with PTSD from a misogynist culture. I think under fives would be accepted far more easily by the public.

[Cheeseburglar]

How many unaccompanied under fives are there?

[ItsJustAnotherUsername]

Funnily enough cheeseburglar that information doesn't appear to be available. I suspect none. How would an unaccompanied 5 year travel from Syria to Europe?

[RancidOldHag]

"Funnily enough cheeseburglar that information doesn't appear to be available. I suspect none. How would an unaccompanied 5 year travel from Syria to Europe?"

With their family, now presumed drowned?

With someone else's family, as the child was the only one they could afford to get out?

I know it can seem heartless, but I think the policies designed to stop people making that horrible journey are important.

So if we are to take more unaccompanied children, I think they should be orphans from the UN camps.

[ItsJustAnotherUsername]

I completely agree rancid and thankfully so does our government, at least lessons have been learnt from Merkel's disastrous suicide policy which rendered so many children parentless in the first place.

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

I believe the youngest unaccompanied child in Calais is 8. Far, far too young to be there without family.

Unless we were to take in sufficient numbers, a policy of taking from camps in Jordan, Turkey ans Syria is not going to work. Life in the camps can be dreadful and people get stuck in them for years. Those with family and friends further afield are bound to want to join them to create stable lives for themselves.

Incidentally, the UNHCR has identified a 71% funding gap