It sounds appalling - and indicative of the oppression that lies just
beneath the surface of our comfortable Western lives.
I don't have any very helpful suggestions but I agree that it is
important to tell the story and continue trying to build alliances of
positive support.
miriam hollis wrote:
>
>
> I havent really introduced myself before. I am a psychotherapist and I
> work in a number of different places to pay the bills. However, five
> years ago I was working in a project for young people and part of my
> work was working with children who are seekers of asylum who are
> without family (unaccompanied minors). The funding was severed
> unceremoniously and the young people lost their training course (which
> gave them access to my project) and triggered almost without
> exception, other issues of loss and fear, unsurprisingly. I took the
> decision to continue the work. For a year social services
> (unaccompanied minors) made referrals and apologised for no funding
> and permitted me to use their offices to see clients. At times I saw
> my old clients and some new referrals throughout the day. Within a
> short amount of time it became manifest that there were issues, not
> about previous trauma, journey trauma, loss etc, but appauling
> treatment by the local authority. At first I believed this was a
> simple error in communication and tried to mediate. it became clear
> that the local authority were not obeying the most recent legislation
> in provision for unaccompanied children, but were doing so
> deliberately ( they told Connexions advisors that our City was exempt
> from the legislation). I pursued this and found that children were not
> brought clothing after their initial arrival. Children who had been in
> the system three years had not been bought new clothes. responsibility
> for education had been delegated to Connexions who created a whole new
> department to cater for this. Most children were not put in schools (
> fourteen, fifteen and sixteen year olds). It also became clear that a
> community worker employed by the local authority, and working in the
> office used by the UAM was verbally abusing the children - he was
> shouting at them regularly, and also told them that if they did not
> stop claiming that their were faults in their properties he would
> report them to Immigration and that they would be raided early one
> morning. I discovered that this person had entered into a business
> arrangement with a well known letting agency Manager ( who rented
> houses to the UAM team for the housing the children - shared housing
> in three or four bedroomed accommodation without supervision) and they
> had purchased houses together and were having them managed by the same
> letting agency to the team that he worked in and children in their
> care were living in them. Photographs taken of the accommodation were
> shown to the refugee Council who investigated and were told all the
> problems had been repaired.
> We had so many problems perculating up that I was regularly referring
> the children to solcitors and the refugee council, who eventually set
> up a surgery here to offer the children support. Two years after the
> problems, with photographs, and land registry documents were submitted
> to the local authority head of social services, no action was taken.
> Only after a youth advocacy service became involved after a late and
> short introduction to the needs of UAM ( their work was funded only
> for nine months and they no longer take the referrals) the community
> worker was suspended and then dismissed.
>
> Meanwhile I was no longer invited to sit on committees regarding the
> needs of UAM, most of the statutory agencies chosing to maintain
> professional links, and was advised that the local authority had
> expressly stated that they would not attend meetings if I was in
> attendance.
> There are too many incidences to set them all out here. However, we
> have become a trusted agency not only by children, adolescents but
> also adults in the merciless asylum system. Our reports continue to be
> commended by asylum courts for their standard and objectivity, and
> have been used as strong supporting evidence for asylum claims that
> have been in jeopardy due, predominantly, to the decreasing amount of
> time available for case workers to be funded by the Legal Services
> Commission ( via the Government) to prepare their cases.
> In five years we have received no funding and rely on donations. When
> the donations dont come in we pay the bills ourselves. We are so shoe
> string it is difficult to see how it all holds together sometimes.
>
> The office that we use is in a building that is owned by the local
> authority but had been standing empty for ten years before social
> activists moved in. After a year, they offered us a space which we
> have used for two years. This is controversial but there are many
> justifications for using empty spaces productively for the needs of
> the community who are already under threat of having no service
> provision at all if their asylum claims fail ( although our work with
> people has led to many cases being reopened and status awarded). We
> have post grads who dedicate themselves to research to support clients
> who dont know how to find the evidence that they need. We are running
> courses for women to help them to learn the skills. We have run
> international film nights for small groups, where the audience chose
> the film from their own country. We meet shop, cook and eat according
> to their particular culture. We watch the film and new arrivals or
> long awaiting a decision individuals talk with host community about
> lives lost and hopes for the future. We have all learnt so much about
> one another.
>
> Yet yesterday I arrived at my office and for the second time found
> that it had been broken into. The office is pretty secure, but on one
> occasion the outer lock had been picked and the inner door kicked in.
> This time they just kicked in the door. The office was ransacked but
> nothing other than ram in the computer stolen. Many people came to the
> office shocked by what had happened while we waited for the police.
> While people tried to check the building they were pelted with
> missiles by bottles, paint by individuals with catapaults. When the
> police arrived they saw no need to investigate the catapaulters who
> were atop a three storey building with no external means of getting
> in, saying that they had no powers to search - the witnesses say the
> people came from inside the building above the office. The police took
> an hour to persuade to send someone to take finderprints. The forensic
> team have yet to tell me when they will be coming.
>
> There are so many projects that are difficult to get continuing
> funding for. Seekers of asylum are having their rights as human beings
> erroded all the time, most recently their entitlement to healthcare.
> Today it feels like very hard work to put it all together again. Yet I
> know that when I go to the office there will be a dozen people willing
> to help.
>
> When I saw the discussion about bankers commencing I, too, felt a
> strong reaction. This is why.
>
> Miriam H
>
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