A parliamentary briefing which outlines our key concerns regarding the situation of separated children^[1] in the Home Office hotels in South East England.

A rapidly developing crisis puts vulnerable children at huge risk. Separated children are housed in hotels outside of the child protection system, without having a corporate parent assigned within 24 hours of their arrival to make decisions and arrangements for their welfare.  The hotels operate unlawfully (children under 16 years of age are placed in unregulated accommodation) and local authorities are not involved in providing services to these children (under s20 of the Children’s Act 1989).

[1] Please note, we purposefully use term separated children rather than unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC) because children should not be defined solely by their immigration status.