Disbelieved and denied Children seeking asylum wrongly treated as adults by the Home Office

Age is a core part of our identity in the UK, both for adults and for children. As well as being a way of marking growth and maturity, chronological age determines how we are able to participate and develop as members of society and is intrinsically linked to our legal rights. However, for children seeking asylum in the UK, age is increasingly being used as a tool for excluding them from the support and protection to which they are entitled. Hundreds of children are having their ages questioned by border officials when they arrive in this country and are then being sent into the adult system. The government repeatedly claims that there are high numbers of adults pretending to be children, but this is not the case. Instead, our research has found that in 2022 more than 800 children were incorrectly treated as adults by the Home Office and placed alone in accommodation alongside adults, or in immigration detention, at significant risk.

Helen Bamber Foundation i. Asylum Aid, . Humans for Rights Network 2023. 8p