Trauma-Informing the Asylum System: the Case of Age Assessment in the UK

Hundreds of unaccompanied migrant children seeking asylum in the UK are being wrongly assessed by the UK Government as adults at the point of entry into the UK. This flawed process, usually based on a short visual assessment, results in children being placed in adult accommodation (e.g. hotels) and immigration detention, exposing them to significant risks, potential harm and mental health deterioration. Moreover, the determined age of an asylum-seeking youth has implications for their ability to access health services, education and welfare support. In brief, the UK Government has been using over the last decade the age assessment of unaccompanied migrant children/youth as an immigration control instrument, aimed at deterring illegal migration. This practice has damaging consequences for the welfare and protection of rights of asylum-seeking children and young people. This paper draws on qualitative empirical data (semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders such as refugee charities, social workers, psychological clinicians, medical statisticians, lawyers and civil servants) and key policy and legal documents to assess the extent to which the age assessment of unaccompanied migrant children should be trauma-informed. A trauma-informed age assessment policy would focus on key principles of trauma-informed practice (TIP), such as choice, empowerment, safety, cultural consideration, trust and collaboration to ensure that the process is not re-traumatizing asylum-seekers. The key findings show that the implementation of TIP principles to age assessment would amount to shifting the focus from assessing someone’s chronological age to assessing someone’s “vulnerabilities” and “needs”. Moreover, a T-I asylum process with respect to age assessment should put the protection of children’s rights and safeguarding measures at the very heart of age disputes. Most importantly, the UK Government should conduct fewer and better age assessments, which should be conducted by child welfare experts, together with social workers and using multi-agency approach (involve paediatricians, psychologists etc) rather than by immigration officials at the point of arrival. Finally, it is argued that an effective implementation of TIP principles to the age assessment process would amount to treating this as a social care issue rather than an immigration deterrence instrument due to the vulnerabilities and mental health challenges experienced by unaccompanied children and young people undergoing age assessment in the UK.