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1. Asylum seeking young people come to this country by a variety of means, often involving third party “agents” who have arranged for their illegal entry to this country for money.  Young people are often driven to this extreme by poverty or violence in their own country. 
2. The UK Border Agency Support (BIA Support) provides support and accommodation to adult asylum seekers and their families but has no remit for UASCs and the Home Office is content for them to be dealt with by Children’s Services Authorities.
3. The Children Act 1989 applies in the case of UASCs and support for UASCs is the responsibility of Children’s Services, acting in partnership with health and education colleagues.
4. It is expected that UASCs will be Accommodated, unless there are cogent reasons why they should be supported under Section 17 of the Children Act 1989.  Such reasons might include the relative maturity of the young person or an informed refusal to be looked after in the case of a 16 or 17 year old.
5. When a UASC is brought to the attention of Children’s Services the first priority is to take the young person to the Borders and Immigration Agency so that he or she can be interviewed by an Immigration Officer and be given a Home Office reference number, if he or she hasn't already got one.  The young person should be accompanied to the interview by a member of staff.  The young person should formally make a claim for asylum.
6. The Immigration Officer will want to be satisfied that the young person is under 18.  If the young person does not have papers which prove his or her age, the Immigration Officer will carry out a brief age assessment.  This will involve an assessment of the young person's emotional and physical maturity.
7. If the Immigration Officer decides the young person is over 18 then no further involvement is required by Children’s Services and the young person will be referred to BIA Support.
8. If the Immigration Officer decides the young person is under 18 the Officer will assign a date of birth.  The social worker should take a note of this and should consider whether or not it is reasonable.  (Obviously this requires a best guess and a matter of weeks is not important, however a difference of several months or a year is significant.)  It may be necessary at a later stage for Children's Services to undertake or commission an age assessment based on  medical advice
9. In due course, in all but the most exceptional cases, the young person will be granted leave to remain in this country.  The leave will be for three years or until the young person reaches 18, whichever is the shorter.
10. A Core Assessment should be carried out.  The social worker should be prepared to take time to build up trust with the young person, who may have suffered almost unimaginable trauma and who might be unwilling to reveal the extent of his or her distress.  An interpreter should be used unless the young person has a good command of English.
11. When deciding on placement, due account should be given to cultural, religious and language factors.  A specialist residential or family placement may be appropriate for some children if these factors can be addressed.  The need for education, emotional support and medical oversight should also be taken into account.
12. Some young people may claim to have relatives who will care for them.  These claims should be fully explored and, if appropriate, the young person should be allowed to live there.  However it is very unlikely that the family will be able to claim benefits for the young person and ongoing support under Section 17 of the Children Act 1989 may be required.  Consideration should be given to approving the placement as a placement with a Family and Friends Foster Carer. If Section 17 support is not required and the placement is not approved as a Family and Friends foster placement it is likely that the placement falls within the definition of Private Fostering - see Private Fostering Procedure.
13. A National Register of Unaccompanied Children has been created.
14. The Local Authority is able to claim Grant Support from the Home Office to offset some of the costs of dealing with UASCs.  It is therefore important that the finance section is informed of any UASC who is being supported so that a claim can be made.  Claims cannot be made for children placed with relatives but the finance section should still be informed for monitoring purposes. 

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