Transcript

[MUSIC PLAYING]

BYO

Every night, I was worried for their safety-- a family sitting at the bus stop by 2:00 AM. If I was a child, I would be scared.

BOY

The worst bit was having to wonder parts of the night, wondering, wondering until the morning comes. All I knew was that we were homeless and that we had nowhere to sleep.

NARRATOR

In 21st-century Britain, you don't expect to see children sleeping rough. But across the country, that's exactly what's happening.

BENJAMIN MORGAN

We're seeing children sleeping with their parents on the night buses, children and parents sleeping in the accident and emergency departments at hospitals. We've known families who have slept in bin sheds. Britain isn't supposed to be a place where we let children sleep on the street, and yet this is the day to day reality for significant numbers of migrant families in London and in other parts of the UK.

NARRATOR

Tambara and Byo were living and working in Britain when their first child, James, was born. When he was just a few months old, their plans to return to Nigeria to renew their visas were disrupted when James was diagnosed with a serious medical condition.

TAMBARA

The doctors said that if we take our child back to Nigeria, that he would lose his sight and his life expectancy will be cut short. So to us, it wasn't more like deciding to overstay knowing. We didn't even see it as that. It was more of trying to fight for my son.

NARRATOR

Their visa application was eventually refused. They were unable to work, and so had to be supported by friends. Late last year, Tambara and Byo had run out of options, and so approached their local authority for help. They were turned away and found themselves homeless with their three sons.

They were homeless on and off for seven months. They spent a night in a police station, nights in an A&E ward, and a week in an empty house. But many nights, they rode buses for hours, until they found a friend who could take them in.

BYO

We'd take a long bus ride, at least to keep warm. With the children, some of them would have slept on the bus. And we are having to carry and drag them with the suitcases and everything. My older one was sort of trying to get a grasp of what is happening. And he would turn to me and say, why is mommy crying? What's happening?

BOY

At first, I felt angry, at the same time sad. They'd be like, OK, we'll pick you up from school, start trying to make some calls to make sure that we have a place to sleep. And if it doesn't work by late, we'll just start wandering. They says just do anything we can to find a place to sleep.

NARRATOR

Sleeping rough over the winter months, the two youngest boys developed asthma. Some weeks, they weren't able to attend school or were so tired, they would fall asleep in class. James dropped from the top of his class to the bottom. Their middle child developed behavioural issues.

CLARE JENNINGS

I think in the last couple of years, we've seen more families who have experienced street homelessness, where the local authority have concluded that the children aren't in need because they don't think the parents are credible. It's moved so far away from an assessment of whether the children are in need, and more an interrogation of the parents.

BENJAMIN MORGAN

Social workers usually start from a position of mistrust. So their first question when families present will be not what are your children's needs, but bluntly speaking, are you trying to scam us? We've known of cases where a child has been asked by a social worker if your family is destitute, how come your shoes look so shiny? Crying mothers have been told, well, the fact that your crying must mean that you have something to hide.

NARRATOR

Often, these families have faced some sort of crisis-- a relationship breakdown, domestic violence, a sudden job loss. For the first time, they look to the state for help only to find the state isn't there.

MARY

My aunty brought me here when my mother passed away in Nigeria. Since I've been here, my father passed away as well.

NARRATOR

Mary has leave to remain in the UK with no access to public funds, and so can't access benefits or normal homelessness support. When she was three months pregnant, her husband kicked her out and refused to have any contact with her.

MARY

I did try to go back to my husband's family side, but none of them were responsive to any of my calls or texts. All throughout the whole pregnancy stuff, the relationship between my aunty and I wasn't great, so she didn't allow me back at her house. I didn't have anywhere else to go.

NARRATOR

With no support network, no money, and an infant son, Mary turned to Camden Council for help. They refused. She has been living in the spare room of a stranger's house, organised by a charity. But this week, she will have to leave and has no idea where she will go next. She's one step away from sleeping on the streets.

MARY

I can't see myself sleeping at the bus stop or at the bus station with my child. Who knows what will literally happen to me and my child at night? The option that we have is probably to go to the police station. From there, I don't know what's going to happen.

NARRATOR

The council have told Mary that her son could live with her ex-partner's family. But she says the relationship has broken down to such an extent that if she gave them her son, she would not be able to see him. According to a report from the charity NELMA, in 20% of the cases they saw, women were told to return to an estranged partner to solve a housing crisis, even when there had been a history of violence and abuse. At one point, Mary said the local authority told her that to solve her problems, they could take her baby into care.

MARY

That got me really mad because I'm not saying that I'm not capable of looking after my child. I can look after my child myself. What we need from you is a shelter.

BENJAMIN MORGAN

Being homeless has an abiding psychological effect on children. And we've met children the morning after they've spent the night in a police station because social services have turned them away. We've heard them sobbing over the phone. We've seen them mute and listless the next day.

BYO

There's no amount of explanation I'm going to give to him as a three-year-old. He's not going to understand it. He was in pain and I can't help him. And I just held him, and I was just crying, and I was pleading with him that he shouldn't worry, that it would soon be all over. There's going to be better things that--

TAMBARA

We're going to be fine.

NARRATOR

Tambara, Byo, and the boys were eventually housed by their local authority after a judicial review of their case. They now have a roof over their heads, but the impact of that seven months of homelessness stays with them.

TAMBARA

What they've done to my children is they've taken their innocence away. The kids still have nightmares. The middle one wets the bed.

CLARE JENNINGS

There should not be street homeless children in the UK.

BYO

This is not what you think about Britain.

TAMBARA

Nah.

BYO

This is not what the world out there knows about Britain.

TAMBARA

Absolutely.

MARY

Out there, people are suffering.

CLARE JENNINGS

I think it's only a matter of time before there's some form of tragedy, really.

NARRATOR

What sort of tragedy?

CLARE JENNINGS

I wouldn't be surprised if someone dies at some point because of this.

MARY

We really, really need help for the sake of my child. I have no idea what is going to happen next.