Child asylum seekers in UK made to play game about who gets foster care places

1 March 2024: Guardian: Child asylum seekers in UK made to play game about who gets foster care places

Home Office inquiry opens after ‘insensitive, upsetting’ treatment of children in hotel, who had to guess who would be next to leave

The Home Office has launched an inquiry after staff made unaccompanied asylum-seeking children play a game in which they had to guess who would be the next one to be placed in foster care, a watchdog’s report has disclosed.

The report, one of 13 written by the borders inspectorate and released on Thursday, also found that agency workers employed to look after children as young as nine had received “insufficient” background checks and training.

The findings from David Neal were set out in stark terms finally published by the Home Office on Thursday after months of delays.

Neal, the former chief inspector of borders and immigration, was sacked last week after he was embroiled in a row over concerns he was raising in a report submitted over security checks at airports – one of two outstanding documents still yet to be published by the Home Office.

An inspector working for Neal at one of four hotels where dozens of children were living was shocked to hear that they were gathered together when one of their number was to be placed with a foster family.

“One team leader described the process by which they would disclose to the children who would be the next to leave for a placement,” the report said. “This involved ‘making a game of it’, asking them to guess who would be next, before revealing their name.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/feb/29/child-asylum-seekers-in-uk-made-to-play-game-about-who-gets-foster-care-places