Children’s Asylum Centre ‘too welcoming’ 😢

VioletSky

That'll fix it!

As soon as children hear there is no longer murals they won't get on the boats at all!

In fact, they will probably just stay in war torn countries and slowly starve if they can't come look at Mickey Mouse!

That certainly seems to be what this creep expects to happen.

It was just part of the discussion

Sorry Joyce it did not quote your post 🙈 re austerity

foxie48

Contrary to what some of the media wants us to believe, the UK takes a tiny number of refugees, other countries take many many more eg Turkey (3.65m), Germany (2.2m), Pakistan (1.3m), Bangladesh has a million stateless Rohihgyas. Many of the countries that take thousands of refugees are very poor, we are not and it is my belief that we should take our share and we should do it to the best of our ability. I think there are politicians who want to give us a "common enemy", just like Hitler did in Germany, so we focus on that rather than poor govt. We tell people they haven't got school places, decent homes, good services, etc because we have too many immigrants, yet so many of our public services are kept going by people who have migrated here. Have a look at the doctors and nurses in your hospital, who your pharmacist is, who drives your buses and trains, who looks after your old mum in the care home. Just look around you and tell me that we have not benefitted by welcoming refugees and migrants. It is poor policy and a lack of proper funding that creates problems, not people.

You are so right. Turkey hosts the largest number of refugees, with 3.6 million people, followed by, can you believe, Iran with 3.4 million people. Colombia is third with 2.5 million, UK, 361,000 !

Vito

Some of you on here have sunk to a new low . What the hell does "need more information" mean ? What more information do you need ? A minister has ordered cartoons in a centre to house kids who are scared ,possibly traumatised, to be painted over so as not to make them welcoming . I dispare when I read some of the comments on here, you should be ashamed.

150 %

JaneJudge

The murals were painted by volunteers, it states it in several articles. The tax payer didn’t fund it. I want to say get a bloody grip. I have never seen so many unfeeling posts regarding vulnerable children. It’s sad

I missed that. Glad you brought it up - hope they don't get prosecuted by the Tory Vice Squad. I too am really surprised at a lot of the comments on here. Some of these kids have been shoved onto dinghies by their parents who don't have the cash the people smugglers charge,

It's the sheer petty vindictiveness of some of our politicians that is so bloody depressing.

Primrose53

@LibbyFionn29.

So anybody who agrees with you is “kind” and those of us who don’t “lack compassion”?

I don’t lack compassion but it is just a mural on a wall that we are talking about in a centre which is supposed to be for “children” but it is very well known that many of these “children” are men in their 20s.

I was brought up to be kind and compassionate just like my parents were but I draw the line at men masquerading as kids and also firmly believe we need to have controlled immigration.

This week I have donated stuff to a Ukrainian family moving into their first house, I regularly donate to charities close to my heart, I invite a lonely neighbour for meals, I Crochet or knit things for new babies in the village and I help out at local charity events.

We all choose what we support and what we don’t and until we have ensured that our own people have housing, food, healthcare and dental care then I don’t support allowing more and more people into our country every day especially when they have not put a penny into this country to start with.

The post immediately above yours says that some media had said 2/3 of these 'children' had in fact been adults. That was rubbish and it was 20%, 1 in 5 so I don;t call that 'many'.

However, you are so right when you say they shouldn't be here because "they have not put a penny into this country to start with". If they were given the right to work instead of getting a 5.38 pound a day handout, they would pay tax just like everyone else.

Baggs

Interesting, Freya.

It reminds me of something.

I and my colleagues from other western countries, had to have work visas to work in a south Asian country back in the nineties. Since the government never got round to making our visas long term, we had to cross a border into another country every month to renew our short term visas.

I was only about an hour's drive from a border but for some people it meant a longish flight, somewhere to stay for a day or two and another flight back to where they worked.

So, when people say asylum-seekers in Britain "aren't allowed to work", I just remember the visa requirements even for invited people in the south Asian country I worked in.

And I shrug and don't find the no work until approved policy, or whatever it's called, at all strange.

I know where you are coming from having worked in France in the 60/70s and needing both work permits and residence permits.

I am not living in the UK bit France and I've worked with Asylum Seekers' children for several years. Most of these kids already have PTSD when they arrive and can't get any professional help until they speak the language - I digress.

Some of these families spent 10 years living on peanuts from the State. They were all ready and willing to work if only to stop people saying they were scroungers. Not being able to provide for his family is a njghtmare to men from many cultures and their children don't think much of parents lounging around in front of the telly because they have no money to do anything else.

ixion

^ixion you may be interested to know that the statistics gathered by the government are incomplete and need to apparently be cross-referenced with other data.
I do wish it was all in one place! I've now spent two hours trying to understand what info comes from where!^

Thank you NotSpaghetti
I started here
www.gov.uk/government/publications/illegal-migration-bill-factsheets/illegal-migration-bill-children-factsheet
but am rapidly disappearing down various rabbit holes!😡

I can't believe what I an reading in this Bill. It says the Secretary of State will have a duty 'to remove any person who enters the UK illegally and has not come directly from a country where their life and liberty was threatened. ' So does that mean they have to have flown from Kabul to Heathrow = what is directly ? It also keeps mentioning 'safe country of origin'. What the he... would these poor people be fleeing if it was safe?

Glorianny no, we definitely didn’t have a PTA.
It was very difficult to ‘engage’ the parents, shall we say.
It was hard enough getting a couple of parent governors on board

FannyCornforth

Glorianny no, we definitely didn’t have a PTA.
It was very difficult to ‘engage’ the parents, shall we say.
It was hard enough getting a couple of parent governors on board

One of the schools I worked in had similar problems they encouraged the parents to come into the school for other events. One of those was an invitation to eat lunch with your child, quite a lot of them came. The head was very good at interaction with the parents.

It is amazing how many people welcomed Ukrainian families but are up in arms about children from Syria or Afghanistan. You might almost think race plays a part in our attitude towards asylum seekers, but that couldn't possibly be true, could it?

You're right there Glorianny.

Well Glorianny, I have discovered that I am the "right kind of foreigner". I was reassured during the referendum that "we don't mind
people like you."
I am Scandinavian.

There is already so much hostility on the subject of migrants, yet this government are doing their best to fuel even more. I feel for the children who painted the mural...they must be so upset. What an insensitive thing to do.

I don't think children painted it, was it the staff who were doing their best to welcome traumatised children?

Casdon

maddyone

I might be wrong but I think the children, who are mostly teenagers, only stay in these reception centres for a short time as I think they are usually moved to foster homes as soon as possible.

www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprisons/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2021/12/Kent-detention-facilities-web-2021.pdf
Most recent published report.

Thank you for posting this Casdon. I do hope everybody who thinks that asylum seekers are rushed into 4 star hotels, and that unaccompanied children are treated humanely, reads it.
It is grim reading.

So a little bit more info came out today and it seems painting over the mural could just have been part of the general redecoration.

Ex Border Force Chief Immigration Officer was on radio show at lunchtime. He said such places are decorated regularly to make them nicer places to stay and he outlined a short stay centre at Dunkirk. They had it painted throughout with the walls in soft colours, the floors were done, new toilets installed at great expense.

He said it looked lovely and then it didn’t after a couple of days. He was asked what that meant and he said the migrants defaced all the walls by drawing and writing on them and generally messing the place up.

So it could well have been general redecoration or it could have been because it had been spoiled anyway.

Always two sides to a story.

Primrose53

So a little bit more info came out today and it seems painting over the mural could just have been part of the general redecoration.

Ex Border Force Chief Immigration Officer was on radio show at lunchtime. He said such places are decorated regularly to make them nicer places to stay and he outlined a short stay centre at Dunkirk. They had it painted throughout with the walls in soft colours, the floors were done, new toilets installed at great expense.

He said it looked lovely and then it didn’t after a couple of days. He was asked what that meant and he said the migrants defaced all the walls by drawing and writing on them and generally messing the place up.

So it could well have been general redecoration or it could have been because it had been spoiled anyway.

Always two sides to a story.

OMG blame the migrants again!
This is a children's centre.
The short term detention centres in Dunkirk have been criticised www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprisons/media/press-releases/2020/03/uk-border-short-term-immigration-detention-at-french-ports-improved-facilities-but-some-serious-concerns/
He isn't going to tell you that is he? He was running them.

Callistemon21

I don't think children painted it, was it the staff who were doing their best to welcome traumatised children?

I understand that the paintings were done by volunteers. For all those who think the Minister was justified - he didn't say it was a public therefore verboten to volunteer artists, he didn't say they used tax payers paint, he didn't say Mickey Mouse was toxic, he said he didn't want the place to be too welcoming. These kids (be it 5 or 17) probably don't know one word of English except 'HELP' and jolly Micky could have been the beginning of a new life. New language, new food, new everything but all alone with no family. Many have PTSD and need urgent therapy but that can't happen till they know quite a lot of English. There's a lack of warmth and compassion in this thread not unlike that of Robert Jenrick - God help his 3 girls at school !

Glorianny

Primrose53

So a little bit more info came out today and it seems painting over the mural could just have been part of the general redecoration.

Ex Border Force Chief Immigration Officer was on radio show at lunchtime. He said such places are decorated regularly to make them nicer places to stay and he outlined a short stay centre at Dunkirk. They had it painted throughout with the walls in soft colours, the floors were done, new toilets installed at great expense.

He said it looked lovely and then it didn’t after a couple of days. He was asked what that meant and he said the migrants defaced all the walls by drawing and writing on them and generally messing the place up.

So it could well have been general redecoration or it could have been because it had been spoiled anyway.

Always two sides to a story.

OMG blame the migrants again!
This is a children's centre.
The short term detention centres in Dunkirk have been criticised www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprisons/media/press-releases/2020/03/uk-border-short-term-immigration-detention-at-french-ports-improved-facilities-but-some-serious-concerns/
He isn't going to tell you that is he? He was running them.

If a BF Chief Immigration Officer said that then I believe him. He did not say it like you are making out “blame the migrants” but he had to be asked why it was still not lovely after 48 hours and then he gave the reason.

The link you provided doesn’t even mention Dunkirk.

The latest inspection report I can find is 2019 and Section 4 deals with Dunkirk and says that “detainees are treated with respect by all staff.” And “detainees are held in a safe, clean and decent environment.”

If you see the boats full of people arriving I am sure you will have seen BF staff treating them kindly and, on the very rare occasions we see a baby or small child they are usually cradling them gently.

I sold my late Mum’s house to a BF official and he was awarded an MBE for his work with the migrants. So I really don’t like your last sentence. I believe BF do a very good job in very difficult circumstances.

joycerousselot123

Callistemon21

I don't think children painted it, was it the staff who were doing their best to welcome traumatised children?

I understand that the paintings were done by volunteers. For all those who think the Minister was justified - he didn't say it was a public therefore verboten to volunteer artists, he didn't say they used tax payers paint, he didn't say Mickey Mouse was toxic, he said he didn't want the place to be too welcoming. These kids (be it 5 or 17) probably don't know one word of English except 'HELP' and jolly Micky could have been the beginning of a new life. New language, new food, new everything but all alone with no family. Many have PTSD and need urgent therapy but that can't happen till they know quite a lot of English. There's a lack of warmth and compassion in this thread not unlike that of Robert Jenrick - God help his 3 girls at school !

There seem to be few on this thread who think his action was justified and anything less than spiteful.

Can someone explain - these places are staffed, aren't they? How did the staff allow defacement of walls? I worked in an establishment belonging to the state ( a school) and would not have permitted this. Ours was a day school but the LA supports residential schools in the area and it doesn't happen there either.

Chocolatelovinggran

Can someone explain - these places are staffed, aren't they? How did the staff allow defacement of walls? I worked in an establishment belonging to the state ( a school) and would not have permitted this. Ours was a day school but the LA supports residential schools in the area and it doesn't happen there either.

Perhaps they are overworked, underpaid and trying to deal with the anomalies of hundreds of children, walk a mile in their shoes.