Source: http://welshrefugeecouncil.org/migration-information/legal-briefings/local-authority-services-for-separated-migrant-and-asylum
Timestamp: 2017-03-28 23:35:59
Document Index: 516063949

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 6', 'art 6', 'art 6', 'art 6', 'EWCA ', 'art 2', 'art 3']

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HomeLocal Authority Services for Separated Migrant and Asylum-Seeking Children in Wales under Part 6 of the Social Services and Well-Being (Wales) Act 2014	A partnership project delivered by Welsh Refugee Council, COMPAS and the Migration Observatory. Funded by Welsh Government. Legal & Policy Briefings
Local Authority Services for Separated Migrant and Asylum-Seeking Children in Wales under Part 6 of the Social Services and Well-Being (Wales) Act 2014 Author(s): Shu Shin Luh Current Revision (Date): January 2017 Introduction
Migrant care leavers: Duties of Welsh local authorities under the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 (July 2016)The Legal Framework and Options Available to Migrant Women and Girls in Wales Subject to Violence (July 2016)Single adult migrants: Destitution, safeguarding and services under the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 (May 2016)The Employment Rights of Migrants in the Welsh Labour Market (March 2016)Human Trafficking, Modern Slavery and the National Referral Mechanism in Wales (February 2016)Access to Healthcare for Migrants in Wales (February 2016)Migrants’ Entitlements to Welfare Benefits in Wales (January 2016)Children and families: Destitution, safeguarding and services under the Children Act 1989 (up to April 2016) and Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 (from April 2016) (September 2015)Please note: due to the unknown implications of the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union at time of writing, this briefing has been written to reflect the duties of local authorities under EU law as they have been until the time of writing. These affect the duties of local authorities under the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 to mobile EU citizens. These may change in the coming years, therefore please check updates to this briefing for any further information.
Separated migrant and asylum-seeking children, by virtue of having no family or friends in Wales who are able to care for them, will likely be children who are ‘looked after’ by a local authority. Although some younger separated migrant and asylum-seeking children may be ‘looked after’ by virtue of being formally subjected to a care order, it is likely that the principal way in which separated migrant and asylum-seeking children become ‘looked after’ is by the local authority’s provision of accommodation under section 76 of the 2014 Act. Section 76, entitled “Accommodation for children without parents or who are lost or abandoned etc.”, is a near mirror image of the comparable provision under section 20 Children Act 1989 as applied in Wales up to April 2016. Subsection (1) sets out the main criteria to be met in order for the duty to accommodate to arise:
protection from abuse and neglectpromotion of physical and mental health and emotional well-beingpromotion of physical, intellectual, emotional, social and behavioural developmentmaintenance or development of family or other significant personal relationshipsinvolvement in education, training and recreation activitiesdevelopment and maintenance of social relationships and involvement in the local communitysocial and economic well-being (including not living in poverty)living in suitable accommodation.Care and Support Plans
how on a day to day basis the child will be cared for and how the child’s well-being will be safeguarded and promoted;what contact arrangements, if applicable, will be in place;arrangements made for the child’s health (including physical, emotional and mental health) and dental care, including any arrangements for the giving or withholding of consent to medical or dental examination or treatment for the child;the arrangements made for the child’s education and training;the arrangements made for visits to the child by a local authority representativethe names and contact details of the Independent Reviewing Officer , the independent visitor, if one is appointed, the local authority’s representative responsible for visiting the child.The role of the Independent Reviewing Officer (IRO) is explained further below.
a chronology of the child’s educational historyexisting arrangements for their education and training including details of specialist support which is put in place to promote their educational achievementdetails of the child’s leisure interestsdetails of the arrangements in place to minimise disruption of their education and training where a change in their educational arrangements is unavoidablea description of the role of the carers in supporting the child’s educational achievement including how they support the child to pursue leisure interests.The Welsh Government’s School Admission Code (2013) recognises that looked after children generally should be afforded the highest priority to looked after children in the school admissions process. In circumstances where full-time school placement cannot be immediately secured, section 19 of the Education Act 1996 requires local authorities to ensure children access interim education. What constitutes suitable education must be assessed on an individual basis and it should not be presumed that a migrant or asylum-seeking child is only capable of accessing English for Speakers of Other Languages (‘ESOL’) courses. Alongside generic pupil support services, there are additional support mechanisms in pace for unaccompanied asylum seeking children and young people via the Minority Ethnic Achievement Service teams in local authorities. These teams work to support minority ethnic children and young people in schools to support their educational achievement through additional funding from the Welsh Government.
ensuring that care and support plans for looked after children are based on a detailed and informed assessment, are up-to-date and effective, and provide a real and genuine response to each child’s needsidentifying any gaps in the assessment process or provision of serviceoffering a safeguard to prevent any ‘drift’ in care and support planning and the delivery of servicesmonitoring the activity of the local authority acting as a good corporate parentensuring that all reasonable steps have been taken to ascertain, and give proper consideration and weight to, the child’s current views, wishes and feelingsensuring that the child fully understands the implications of any changes to the care and support planmaking sure that the child is aware of their entitlement to an advocate and what an advocate doesensuring (for an accommodated child) that a review takes place prior to discharge from care.When I am Ready Scheme
the young person was looked after immediately prior to their 18th birthday and was living with foster carers in a placement arranged by the local authority.the carers were acting as approved foster carers for the young person immediately prior to their 18th birthdaythe young person and the foster carers both wish to enter into a ‘When I am Ready’ arrangement, and the arrangement has been set out in the young person’s pathway planthe local authority is satisfied that such an arrangement is not inconsistent with the young person’s well-beinga proportion of the allowance paid to the ‘When I am Ready’ carer will be paid for by the local authority.‘When I am Ready’ arrangements can therefore cover all young people who were previously in foster care, and who were looked after immediately prior to their 18th birthday, as long as the above criteria are met. Whether a child can move into a ‘When I am Ready’ arrangement with their foster carer when they turn 18 is dependent on consideration of whether this is in their best interests and whether this arrangement continues to meet their assessed needs as identified in their Part 6 Care and Support plan. The scheme does not operate in principle by reference to a child’s immigration status but that may have a bearing of the child’s eligibility for the scheme when they transition to adulthood. The issues as to eligibility for continued support post-18 is covered in the Migrant Care Leavers briefing (please see: http://migration.wales/migration-information/legal-briefings).
Home Office – Local Authority Relationship The Home Office has long operated an agreement with local authorities to make funds available to them in respect of their costs of support unaccompanied asylum seeking children (‘UASC’). A UASC is defined as an individual, who is under 18, has arrived in the UK without a responsible adult, is not being cared for by an adult who by law or custom has responsibility to do so, is separated from both parents and has applied for asylum (including a claim raising Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights) in the United Kingdom in his/her own right. Those who have not made an asylum claim would not fall within the scope of the funding arrangement. Further exclusions include children who have the nationality of a European Economic Area (EEA) state and children of a UASC.
Category£ dailyLegacy case aged under 16£95.00Legacy case aged 16 or 17£71.00Other case aged under 16£114.00Other case aged 16 or 17£91.00If a local authority’s actual expenditure is less than the sum calculated by applying the rates in the table, payments will be capped at the level of actual expenditure. Funding by a local authority of the care of a UASC is not dictated by the amount contributed by the Home Office.
The purpose of an age assessment is to establish, so far as possible, a person's chronological age rather than physical, mental and emotional maturity. This must thus naturally start with listening to the child and seeing what the child has to say about his or her age and historyThere is in law no burden on the child to prove his or her age: R (CJ) v Cardiff CC [2011] EWCA Civ 1590The assessment must be a holistic one and must start with an open mind and should be undertaken by two qualified social workersThe young person should be afforded the opportunity to have an appropriate adult with whom he or she is familiar present during the interview.Physical appearance and demeanour are notoriously unreliable factors not determinative of ageIn evaluating evidence, assessors must be careful to distinguish between internal inconsistencies in a person's account giving rise to concerns about credibility and a decision maker’s own assumptions of how a person ought to have behavedThe cultural, ethnic and racial context of the young person being assessed must be considered as these may reflect in their presentation as well as their descriptions of their livesGeneral credibility is not to be determinative of age. It is more likely that a young person who tells a consistent account of his or her life which supports his or her claimed age will be the age s/he claims to be. Conversely, young people may lie for reasons unrelated to age but related to their claims for protection or the reasons they had to leave their country of originIf the chronological information provided by the child is credible, believable and plausible, then no observation about the child's apparent physical appearance or demeanour is likely to tip the balance against the age stated by the child and derived from his oral history.If there are concerns about matters which may be taken adversely against the young person, fairness requires the assessors to provide the young person an opportunity to know these concerns and to provide a response to the concerns before a final decision is made about the young person’s age. This may be done at the end of the age assessment process when a provisional view has formed; the young person may be given an opportunity to take legal advice if he or she so wishes. Although questions throughout the process may address some of the adverse credibility matters, that approach is too ad hoc and may not fully comply with what is required of a fair procedureThe child should be afforded the benefit of the doubt where evidence can tip one way or the otherAge assessment interviews with social workers can involve artificiality. Thus weight should be afforded to views of teachers, foster carers and other professionals who may have spent more time with the young person outside the context of an age assessment.More detailed guidance on how to undertake a holistic, multi-agency age assessment and on different scenarios giving rise to age disputes and how local authorities should deal with age disputes is outlined in the Age Assessment Toolkit.
Part 2 Code of Practice (General Functions) Part 3 Code of Practice (Assessing the Needs of Individuals)
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