Child refugees

I don't know enough about the arrangements made in France for unaccompanied children. We do know about the problems here, with unaccompanied children being taken into care, placed with foster/residential carers and then being whisked away

What do you mean by 'whisked away', Iam64?

Do we consider France to be a terrible country with poor living conditions? No, and nor would anybody.Certainly the adults in the Jungle at Calais seem to think so though, as they refuse to comply with the authorities there and become French citizens ( or at least to have their backgrounds investigated by the French authorities as a precursor to that end.)The boys/ teenagers seem to be of Afghan origin ( according to something on Radio 4) however not sure of the ages involved, hard to imagine French police standing by while children on their own live in tents there, but if they do..... Shame on them.

Where did Radio 4 got the idea they're mainly Afghans?

Just wondering.

"We’ve asked Save the Children for its most recent estimates directly, and are waiting for a response. The charity has previously estimated that a total of 26,000 unaccompanied children arrived in Europe last year.

Yvette Cooper’s claim on children sleeping rough in Greece is based on operational data from agencies working in Europe. A recent report from Unicef, Save the Children and Citizens UK claimed that there are around 2,000 lone refugee children trapped in Greece, well above the capacity of existing children's shelters there."

From Fullfact.

www.citizensuk.org/aid_agencies_call_for_urgent_action

There is one gransnetter who fostered two boys from Afghanistan. I am very admiring of her.

Ana - I read recently (daily mail investigative piece) about children who were taken from residential or foster placements and attempts to find them remain unsuccessful. I have direct experience of this happening to children who had not been born in the UK and had lived here only briefly. Child sexual exploitation is suspected to be behind this kind of thing.

Bump

Doesn't matter Jen, the children aren't British

Thanks, Iam (so ^some* DM articles are useful!)

Thanks for the link. I've signed.

65,000+ signatures now. only another 35,000 and there could be another debate.
This time all the labour MPs should vote - no pairing.

Signed and shared ?

I've signed. To me there is no justification for refusing to take these poor children.

Beggars the question, what sort of person can ignore the suffering of children Just shrug and say - someone else's problem

I have signed and hope this can be debated again.

Have signed, thanks Jess, It is so sad, what people have to think, is If it was our children, wouldn't we want someone to save them? Of course we would. these children have done nothing wrong, , They are caught up in a war. that they have nothing to do with x

I have signed. Well done for highlighting this here.

Signed and shared. Thanks for highlighting it.

It was me who fostered the teenage boys from Afghanistan. One of them is now in the middle of an apprenticeship to be a plumber and the other is doing a BTEC in Business studies at college. Both have jobs when they're not studying and are paying taxes. They have hope and a future now.

Can you imagine being a little boy walking to school chatting to your friend walking alongside you - and then being splattered with your friend's body parts as a bomb explodes? How about having to hide to escape the Taliban as they visit your village seeking to press-gang you into joining them/becoming a suicide bomber? What about knowing that your dad has been captured by the Taliban and is being tortured every day? The trek over land and sea to safety begins to look like a more attractive proposition when these things are a part and parcel of every day life.

In the summer we'll be hosting more 'refugees' who will be joining us for holidays, they are in recovery from being tortured.

Please, please sign the petition. If you have doubts about signing go along to a refugee centre in your area and meet some of the people there - and then try to imagine children who are alone experiencing the kind of life they describe, and that drives adults to despair.

66,000 signatures now. 199 in the last hour.

Does anyone else look at the map showing where the signatures are from?
It's very revealing. Some Tory constituencies have lots of signatures.
Perhaps Cameron should take note.

updates.oxfam.org.uk/c/1OjRMDe2IrLXkZXEarZ7oJqSB

This is a quiz on refugees, to find out how much you do or do not know about the situation.
One of the answers in particular surprised me.

My concern about Britain taking unaccompanied children from France is that this country's track record on looking after our own children in care is pretty bad (and has been for many years), you only have to look at the stats for how many of them finish up in prison. So how will we look after traumatised children from the middle east.

Is that a reason for not taking them?
Surely we should improve things for all children in this country.

Signed the petition.