Hackney Council awarded £250k to help child asylum seekers

Hackney is currently home to 31 unaccompanied asylum-seeking kids. Photograph: Creative Commons

Hackney Council has been given £250,000 by the government to support asylum-seeking children who arrive in the country on their own.

There are currently 31 unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC) living in the borough.

Many of these children live in semi-independent accommodation because of a shortage of foster carers from communities that reflect their home countries.

The council says the funding from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government will help recruit and train foster carers and people who can offer supported lodgings from the three countries where many of Hackney’s UASC come from – Eritrea, Vietnam and Albania.

Residents with a spare room can offer supported lodgings, but will not have the same legal responsibilities as a foster parent.

According to children’s charity Barnardo’s, these providers “make a huge difference to the lives of young people, just by welcoming them into their homes”.

Deputy Mayor Anntoinette Bramble. Photograph: Hackney Council

Cllr Anntoinette Bramble, Deputy Mayor of Hackney, said: “We’re incredibly proud of Hackney’s history of offering a safe haven to those in need.

“While supporting unaccompanied asylum-seeking children represents a significant challenge for local authorities, we are keen to do whatever we can to support the children in our care.

“Hackney is home to a great many cultures and ethnicities, and we’re pleased that this funding will allow us to draw on this diversity to offer these young people the support they need, and help them to rebuild their lives after the trauma and violence they have often already experienced in their early years.”

To find out more about fostering or providing supported lodgings, please visit www.hackney.gov.uk/fostering or call 0800 0730 418 to speak to a social worker