Barnardo's says new Family Returns Process has considerably improved the experience of children and families being removed from the UK, but there is still more to do to
The children's charity Barnardo's has today published a 'lessons learned' briefing on its experiences of the Home Office's Family Returns Process.
You can read Barnardo's briefing, Cedars: Two years on, here.
The Family Returns Process was introduced in 2011 as a new approach to returning families who have no right to remain in the UK and have refused to leave voluntarily. The Immigration Act 2014, when passed, will place core elements of the Family Returns Process in statute.
Cedars is the Home Office's pre-departure accommodation near Gatwick Airport for failed asylum-seeking families. It was opened in 2011 and Barnardo's runs welfare and social care services at Cedars.
In today's briefing, Barnardo's says it is putting on record where it think things are working well under the Family Returns Process, and where it still has significant broader concerns.
In a press release, the charity says it finds that overall the new system has considerably improved the experience of children and families in the 'ensured return' part of the immigration process.
However, despite the progress, Barnardo's says there is still more to do to improve the Families Returns Process and the wider asylum and immigration system for children and their parents.
The charity highlighted in particular its concerns over children being separated from their parents for the purposes of immigration control. The Guardian focussed on this in today's article Children 'kept from parents' at centre for failed asylum seekers.
In its briefing, Barnardo's recommends that children should never be separated from their parent or parents for the purposes of immigration control. It says children should only be separated from their parent or parents if there is a safeguarding or welfare concern.
Barnardo's says it is also concerned about the arrest and escort of families to and from Cedars; the area of non-compliant behaviour management; and in regards to the number of families for whom Cedars is not the 'final stage of the journey'.
Alison Worsley, Deputy Director of Strategy at Barnardo's said: "The Government has made significant improvements in the way that children and families are treated within the asylum process. The days when more than a thousand children were held for indefinite periods in removal centres such as Yarl's Wood have now gone."
"However, there is still much work to do to improve the Family Returns Process and the wider immigration process. We ask the Government to live up to its moral responsibility to some of the UK's most vulnerable children and move quickly to implement Barnardo's recommendations."