Calls for Devon to help child migrants

After Kent says it's full

Calls have been made for Devon County Council to help safely care child migrants amid a rise in the number arriving alone in Kent.

Kent County Council says it doesn't have  capacity for additional unaccompanied asylum-seeking children following the arrival of more than 400 this year. The responsibility lies across England to help out under the National Transfer Scheme which aims to create a more even distribution of caring responsibilities across the country.

Under the scheme, a child arriving in one local authority area already under strain caring for unaccompanied asylum seeking children may be transferred to another council with capacity.

Cllr Gordon Hook, Liberal Democrat councillor for the Newton Abbot South ward on Devon County Council, wants Devon to offer Kent help. He said: “May I suggest that Devon County Council offers Kent some practical help with this humanitarian problem, if we are in a position to accept some children here in Devon, if only on a temporary basis? I believe this to be an extremely urgent issue and would like to think Devon could play a part in offering practical help in this crisis.”

In response, a spokesman for Devon County Council said: “We are part of the government’s National Transfer Scheme which enables unaccompanied asylum-seeking children to move safely from the local authority they arrive into another one. Through this scheme we supported a significant number of vulnerable children when the Calais refugee camps were closed in 2016, and we continue to accept referrals.”

More than 400 children, most of whom arriving in Dover across the English Channel by small boat, have entered Kent’s care so far this year. Under-18s arriving in the county alone pass into the care of the local authority, with a small number later transferred to other councils that volunteer to help.

Last week, Cllr Roger Gough, leader of Kent County Council, warned the Home Office his authority “expected to reach safe capacity to meet its statutory duty of care this weekend”.

The arrival of 13 more children in the past two days had “tipped the balance and the council simply cannot safely accommodate any more new arrivals,” he added.