Rise in unaccompanied children in asylum in Dorset
The number has more than tripled since the start of the year
Dorset Council is now looking after 30 unaccompanied asylum children – more than triple the number at the start of the year.
They come from a range of countries and have been welcomed to Dorset in response to a national scheme.
Executive director of children’s services Theresa Leavy says the increase means that the council now has a total of 447 children in its care, which she says is higher than the authority would like.
Ms Leavy said the extra number of asylum children should mean dedicating two social workers to oversee the children’s care and resettlement, with the full costs expected to be met by the Government.
She told the council’s corporate parenting board that the situation with unaccompanied asylum children remained fluid because some wanted to be closer to members of their own communities, or in a limited number of cases to family members who might be elsewhere in the UK.
“We do look to see what is the most appropriate course of action for them,” she told the meeting.
Councillors also heard that there had been some improvement in recruiting foster carers to look after children in the care of the council.
The number of inquiries had risen, over the course of a month, from 17 to 23, which the director said was idea because it allowed applications to be dealt with in a timely way rather than have potential foster carers facing unnecessary delays.
The department continues to try and get children who are cared for out of the county back into Dorset but has faced delays on a number of projects.
It is still waiting for the children’s centre in Dorchester Road, Weymouth to be brought into use after weeks of delays, mainly caused by shortages in the building sector of both materials and labour.
Staff have also been looking for suitable smaller homes where more tailored care can be offered while the county’s biggest project, the £10-million former St Mary’s School near Shaftesbury is still not opened although it is staffed and has an initial cohort of pupils ready to start.
The meeting heard that problems also remain over delays in initial health assessment for children and young people coming into care, a situation which has existed even prior to Covid, which then exacerbated the problem.
Ms Leavy said talks had been held with the health service, but the delays remained an issue.
“The performance is not where it needs to be …We are advising health colleagues within the right time scales,” she said, adding that solutions had been suggested including having some assessments completed virtually, or by a nurse, although the NHS is insisting on assessments only being undertaken by higher level medics.