Care leavers’ transitions to independence
Age disputes when seeking asylum
Only a couple of the young people we spoke to discussed age assessments, but the consequences had been serious for them. Their stories are an example of how mistakes or rushed decisions can shape young people's experiences of safety, housing, and wellbeing.
- Not being believed on arrival
- How age disputes and service decisions created unsafe and unsupported situations
- The importance of providing young people with legal advocacy
Not being disbelieved on arrival
One young person arrived in the UK without proof of age and was not recognised as a child. They were told to get a train to another city where they would need to claim asylum. They described being frightened, unsupported and unsure how to navigate the system in a language they did not yet speak.
Mohamed wasn’t believed about being 17, was sent to the Home Office alone, and later told his age couldn’t be accepted because he had been listed as an adult in France (read by an actor).
Mohamed wasn’t believed about being 17, was sent to the Home Office alone, and later told his age couldn’t be accepted because he had been listed as an adult in France (read by an actor).
When I first came in, I was held in a police station and they... When I went to claim asylums at the police station, they didn’t accept my age. And they also didn’t want to listen to me.
So after I waited, first, they didn’t want to accept me. They said, we can’t, we can’t let you claim asylum. You just have to go back. We don’t, we don’t want you to stay here.
But after a long while, when they took my fingerprints, they said, we found your fingerprint in France, and you’re not the age that you’re claiming to be. And I know why that was, because when I was in the border of France, the UK force has taken my fingerprints. And when I told them I was 17, they have registered it 18 on the PC. So I told them to correct it, but they didn’t want to listen. They just gave me an ID that says I’m 17 years old, but on the computer, it was still 18. And because of that, they didn’t want to believe my age when I came here. And I explained what has happened. But they didn’t want to listen to me.
So they said I have, they have taken my fingerprints in France three months earlier. And they said it was after three months that I came to the UK, and after they’ve taken my fingerprint, my fingerprint, they said you’d have to wait for a car to come and collect you. It would take about 40 minutes to one hour. This is after I’ve explained that I’m underage and what has happened when they took my fingerprint back in France. And then they said for me to wait for 40 minutes to one hour and a car would come and collect me. But that didn’t happen all night, and in the morning they just let me go. So I had to walk, trying to find a train station so I could go somewhere. So as I was walking I found a train station and I walked into there.
How age disputes and service decisions created unsafe and unsupported situations
Young people described early decisions by services as confusing, frightening and lacking explanation. One young person was placed in a hotel room with another adult for eight months during an age dispute. Another experienced an eviction at short notice, leaving them without safe housing or time to plan. Both young people were expected to fend for themselves without preparation or protection. One young person later obtained the paperwork she needed to prove she was a child. Later on, young people described continuing to feel insecure, including situations where interpreters misrepresented their words or professionals did not listen, which made it difficult to trust the process or feel safe asking for help.
Mohamed was left homeless after his age assessment decided he was an adult (read by an actor).
Mohamed was left homeless after his age assessment decided he was an adult (read by an actor).
So, they did the age assessment then I was called in for a second day to continue the assessment and then they gave me an appointment to tell me the result of the assessment. At that time I wasn’t attending school because I was stressed about everything, I was missing school and everything. And then on the day that the result was gonna be announced the- my social worker took me aside and she said what do you think is gonna happen today? And I told her I don’t have any problem, I don’t have any worries at all, I know my age so I know what the result is going to be. And she said to me, 'no you don’t have to think like that you have to be open for whatever result is gonna come, you have to accept it you have to prepare yourself for any outcome,' and I wasn’t happy about that.
So, on that day, they brought an interpreter to tell me the result of the age assessment outcome. So, even my social worker, when she told me what could have happened, what is going to happen or what could happen, she used the same interpreter as well. So, she used an interpreter to tell me what may happen and that I have to be, I have to accept whatever result comes out. And she also said that even though, even if we don’t believe your age, we’re still going to support you until you’re going to be able to claim universal credit because I was getting close to 18 then. Until your universal credit and until you get support from them, our payment is not going to stop. I said, okay. And then when I went in for the results, the people told me that. They did not accept my age and they said I have to be supported by Universal Credit and that they weren’t going to support me anymore.
So, after they told me everything, I went home and I received a WhatsApp letter, a picture of a letter on WhatsApp that says I have to leave the property I was staying in in two days. So the date they gave me was you have to move out on the 27th. That was two days, in two days. So I had no choice.
I went to Refugee Council. They couldn’t believe what they couldn’t believe. They said, this can’t happen. You won’t be able to find anywhere to stay in two days. So I had to move out when the two days came. After two days, I had to move out. So for about a week, I was homeless. I didn’t have anywhere to stay.
Winta said she was sent to the Home Office alone after the council refused to believe she was a child, and even the Home Office felt this was wrong.
Winta said she was sent to the Home Office alone after the council refused to believe she was a child, and even the Home Office felt this was wrong.
I was put in a foster family for like two weeks. I was an asylum seeker at the time, and I didn’t really have documents proving my identity or my age. So the [City 1] Council, the local council decided that since I did not have anything to prove my age, I was not a child, so they got me a ticket to [City 2] from [City 1] and said, “You need to go to [City 2], go to the Home Office and seek asylum from there, not from here,” so I had to leave. I was on my own and I was new to the country, that was like... and that was... yeah... So I ended up going to the Home Office to seek asylum and it was a whole process. They had to do a lot of things, like get in touch with the [City 1] Council asking them: it’s not been proved that what her age is, it’s all... all we’ve got is what she says, but you’ve sent her here alone, ’cause that’s not right. The [City 1] Council didn’t really care about it much. So that was a really horrifying experience.
The importance of providing young people with legal advocacy
Where solicitors or advocates became involved, young people felt supported and listened to. They described this as a turning point where communication improved, disputes moved forward, and they felt recognised as children rather than expected to cope alone.
Winta explained that her solicitor helped her obtain her birth certificate to confirm her age, and said she could always reach out if she needed more support.
Winta explained that her solicitor helped her obtain her birth certificate to confirm her age, and said she could always reach out if she needed more support.
But yeah, once I got to [City 2], I decided to seek asylum from there. I was put in a hotel with an adult for eight months, so I stayed in [City 2] for eight months. I got a solicitor in the... in the meantime and he was dealing with my age dispute, talk... like getting in contact with [City 1] Council, and stuff, and after eight months, they finally managed to get my birth certificate from back home, and yeah, that’s how they proved I was indeed a child and decided to take me back to [City 1].
But before moving away from [City 2], moving back from [City 2], I had a solicitor that was dealing with my age dispute, and there was like... after he finished with my case, he said, “You can still contact my colleagues if you need anything,” so I had their contact details. So when I told them that: “Oh, I want to change my social worker and it’s really not working,” that was like three months after I first complained to the IRO, and that’s when they started pushing for it with the... with the local council themselves.
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