Immigration centre holding children for too long, says inspector of prisons

 
Thursday 28 August 2008 00:01

The Home Office's UK Border Agency's website is peppered with the phrases "managing migration" and "enforcing our immigration laws" - hardly child-friendly. Look up Yarl's Wood immigration removal centre on the website and at the end it says it is for single females and families with children. It is the only mention of children you will find.

So the fact that chief inspector of prisons Anne Owers has found disabled children detained there - including one with such severe learning disabilities that they needed one-to-one care - is shocking but unsurprising.

Couple this with the increasing length of time many children are held, and the government's pledge to place a duty on the UK Border Agency to safeguard and promote the welfare of children is long overdue. But it would be foolish to believe this alone will transform the mindset of this most non child-friendly agency.




What do you think? Have your say on CareSpace.

Keep up to date with the latest developments in social care by signing up to our daily and weekly newsletters.

Social care link
paperwork

Liberating adult social work

How do you free practitioners from bureaucracy, rationing and risk aversion, asks Mithran Samuel