HEALTH bodies and charity workers fear that the UK government鈥檚 plan to send adult asylum seekers to settle in Rwanda, rather than allowing them to settle in the UK, will inadvertently lead to unaccompanied children being deported. This is because, despite the government鈥檚 proposed Nationality and Borders Bill calling for 鈥溾�� to confirm that child asylum seekers aren鈥檛 adults, experts say there is no such way to determine someone鈥檚 age.
Age assessments aren鈥檛 mere form filling. Unaccompanied children arriving in the UK need to enter education and be found a foster family as soon as possible. There are also fears that adults may claim they are children in the hope of being treated more favourably by the UK鈥檚 asylum system.
鈥淭here is no medical or psychological test which can definitively state a person鈥檚 age鈥�
Advertisement
But many people who flee their home countries can鈥檛 prove their age. They may have lost their documentation in conflict, never had a birth certificate in the first place or simply be from a culture that doesn鈥檛 celebrate birthdays.
Last year, there were made by unaccompanied children, but officials from the country鈥檚 Border Force or local councils disputed 2517 of them and ordered an age assessment. Around 60 per cent of these were judged to be at least 18, and so adults.
Such assessments are controversial. Several charity workers and lawyers have told 快猫短视频 that caseworkers are using pseudoscience to help justify their decisions on whether an asylum seeker is a child or an adult. Home Office in the past few years due to officials judging child asylum seekers to be adults and putting them into hotels unsupervised, without safeguarding measures.
Current age assessments in the UK are largely conducted by local government social workers and are based on a series of interviews with the asylum seeker as well as judging their appearance and demeanour. This process can be subjective and lacking evidence.
鈥淚 was so stressed [by the whole process],鈥� says Jerome*, an asylum seeker who arrived in the UK in 2020 with no identification. Jerome says he was 16 when he arrived in the country, but Border Force didn鈥檛 believe him.
After three months and four separate interviews, two social workers claimed that Jerome was lying about his age and judged that he was aged between 19 and 22. 快猫短视频 has seen documents produced by the social workers to justify this assessment. In the 鈥渁ppearance and demeanour鈥� section, they claim that because Jerome鈥檚 skin didn鈥檛 look youthful, he was unlikely to be 17.
The report also suggests that because Jerome had broad shoulders and a pronounced Adam鈥檚 apple, it was likely that he had 鈥渃ompleted puberty鈥�. In order to claim that Jerome鈥檚 broad shoulders were a sign of adulthood, the report linked to a website that instructs readers on how best to draw the human body.
鈥淚t鈥檚 complete pseudoscience,鈥� says Jerome鈥檚 independent charity social worker*. 鈥淚t鈥檚 medieval.鈥�
But Jerome鈥檚 case isn鈥檛 unusual. Bob*, a charity worker, says he worked with a 15-year-old asylum seeker* last year who was asked to tell social workers where exactly his body hair was. In another case, a woman* from an East African country was told she couldn鈥檛 be 17 because her hips were too wide for teenage women from that region.
Bob also had a case in which the facial hair of an asylum seeker* from a north-eastern African country was taken as evidence that he was over 18 because the assessors judged that men from the region don鈥檛 develop facial hair until adulthood. 鈥淚t鈥檚 just plain wrong and racist,鈥� says Bob. 鈥淚 believe age assessments are one of the most disturbing aspects of the entire asylum system [in the UK].鈥�
Bob says the UK鈥檚 new migration plans risk children being wrongly assessed as over 18 and quickly moved to Rwanda. 鈥淭he Home Office could decide to take the precautionary approach not to remove anyone whose age has been disputed 鈥� but I can鈥檛 see this happening,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hey鈥檇 say that everyone will then claim to be a child at the border.鈥�
The Home Office told 快猫短视频 that it won鈥檛 send unaccompanied children to Rwanda. 鈥淓veryone considered for relocation will be screened, interviewed and have access to legal advice,鈥� says a Home Office spokesperson. 鈥淒ecisions will be taken on a case-by-case basis and nobody will be removed if it is unsafe or inappropriate for them.鈥�
The spokesperson also said the current age assessment method is 鈥渧ery subjective鈥� and that measures put in place through the Nationality and Borders Bill will stop adults who are seeking asylum claiming to be children.
In January, the Home Office launched a scientific committee to look at alternative age assessment techniques. The committee is looking at three main methods, according to a source with knowledge of the matter who spoke to 快猫短视频 on condition of anonymity.
The first method, dental X-rays, works on the assumption that teeth mature at a constant rate and that all teeth, except the third molars 鈥� also called wisdom teeth 鈥� are . The technique is used in countries like France and Sweden to assess the ages of asylum seekers.
But the British Dental Association (BDA) has called the methodology , saying that children as young as 16 can have mature wisdom teeth, while some people never develop them at all.
鈥淒ental age checks fail basic standards on accuracy and ethics,鈥� says Eddie Crouch at the BDA. 鈥淚f ministers go down this path, it seems inevitable that some child refugees risk being handed a one-way ticket to Rwanda.鈥�
The second method involves taking X-rays of the wrist bone and comparing the image to the X-rays of other similarly aged people. A on the topic published on 15 March by the Parliamentary Office for Science and Technology said the method should be used with caution because we don鈥檛 really know how trauma or malnourishment, both common in asylum seekers, may affect wrist bone density.
鈥淭here is no medical or psychological test which can definitively state a person鈥檚 age,鈥� says Zo毛 Greaves at the British Medical Association (BMA). 鈥淚n addition, the use of procedures such as radiographs of bones and teeth to determine age is not only unreliable but also poses a risk [from X-ray exposure] to individuals forced to undergo the procedure.鈥�
鈥淭he BMA believes that it is not ethical for doctors to use their clinical skills to take part in an age-assessment process that results in vulnerable and traumatised people being sent to an offshore facility,鈥� says Greaves.
The scientific committee is also investigating whether DNA methylation can be used to assess a person鈥檚 age. This is the chemical modification of DNA that happens throughout our lives and studies have shown that the 鈥渂iomarkers鈥� of this process, found in blood or saliva samples, can be used to estimate a person鈥檚 age. But , who studies the technique, says the results aren鈥檛 accurate enough to be used in real-world age assessments.
The source with knowledge of the Home Office鈥檚 scientific committee says they believe the department intends to go ahead with some of these methods in the coming year, especially dental X-rays. The Home Office didn鈥檛 confirm or deny this before publication.
Using these kinds of biological signs to determine age may appear to be accurate and impartial, but they aren鈥檛, says the source. The main benefit is cost. 鈥淚f you ignore the fact that they get the answer wrong quite a lot of the time, it鈥檚 much cheaper than a social worker assessment,鈥� says the source.
So if current age assessments are flawed, and the government鈥檚 proposed scientific methods are also unreliable, what is the solution? Jo Schofield has 10 years鈥� experience conducting age assessments for local councils. She has since set up an independent firm called in the UK for whenever someone wants to challenge an official assessment.
鈥淚 believe social workers can do this work if they are trained properly,鈥� she says. 鈥淲e do 9-hour assessments which are trauma-informed and give the asylum seeker the benefit of the doubt.鈥� She says budget cuts, a lack of training, overwhelming caseloads and a culture of disbelief have led to social workers conducting age assessments too hastily. Schofield estimates that a properly carried out assessment can cost a few thousand pounds, while those that may have been done incorrectly, resulting in legal challenges, can cost 拢45,000.
In February, Schofield set up a qualification for age assessment that any social worker can take. She believes that such holistic assessments are the best way to assess a young person鈥檚 age. 鈥淚t just needs to be done properly,鈥� she says.
*names have been changed and specifics left out to protect people鈥檚 identities and because legal cases are ongoing
