Asylum seeking children in the care of West Berkshire Council Options

[Mark NWN]

Original Story

A 16-year old asylum seeker from Afghanistan said that he travelled through Europe in the back of a lorry for five months before arriving in West Berkshire last year.

Kahlilullah Safi is one of 31 asylum seekers currently in foster care in the district, a number which has almost doubled in the last two years as more and more youngsters flee war-torn countries to make new lives for themselves.

He told Newburytoday.co.uk his journey was so traumatic he struggled to remember much of what went on.

“There was trouble back in my homeland. My father died 11 years ago. I had to get away; my life was in danger. I travelled through Italy, France, Turkey and Greece, I don’t remember a lot of it.”

He left behind his mother, two brothers and a sister.

Upon his arrival in West Berkshire at Chieveley service station in November he was, as happens to all unaccompanied asylum seekers, arrested, and subjected to a series of rigorous tests.

Wherever an asylum seeker is found, they become the responsibility of the local authority and with three service stations in the district, Chieveley Membury and Reading, the steady flow of arrivals has increased for West Berkshire Council year on year.

The number of unaccompanied asylum seekers in West Berkshire on 31 March, 2008, was 16.

By 31 March, 2010, that number was 31, and cost £563,348.94 over the year, with West Berkshire Council accounting for £182,390 of that total, with the rest paid by the UK Border agency.

Eventually Kahlilullah was placed under the care of Newbury’s Karleen and Mark McDonagh.

The couple have looked after around 20 youngsters over the last six years, and their extended family now includes two other Afghanistani boys, Sharifullah Ahamadzai, aged 14, who was placed with the family in October 2009, and Rahman-Gul Toothakhel, aged 15, who arrived in the UK on Christmas Eve.

“The council have us on a list of carers, and they contacted us to see if we would take on an Afghan boy who could speak no English. We never hesitated.

“There are misconceptions. It is not like these youngsters are looking for a free ride. Their families have been close to the army back home and have been killed.

They are respectful, polite, the school loves them, and they have brought the community out,” she said.

Sue Adamantos, West Central Locality Manager at West Berkshire Council, said the procedures for dealing with youngsters like Kahlil are fraught with problems.

“Many of them will say they are 15 because they know they can stay in the system longer. Tests are conducted, and if any are suspected of being 18 they are immediately deported.

“When they arrive they are hungry, dirty, some have diseases, they have travelled a long way in awful circumstances, its difficult for everybody concerned, but the council does all it can to care for them.”

“It is just another challenge. The biggest problems we face are we don’t have enough resources and we simply don’t have enough foster carers,” she added
Mrs McDonagh’s charges are now pupils at St Barts, but eventually, like all unaccompanied asylum seekers, they may have to return to their homeland once they become 18, a move which could put their lives in danger.

“They are here for however many years, and they become Westernised. Going back they stick out like a sore thumb, and there is nothing we can do about it,” said Mrs McDonagh.

“That is why it is so important that we continue to support them, not just here but in their homeland too.”

Good morning forum, what do you think of this article and the subject discussed?

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