Transcript
Wafa Shaheen
Most local authorities don’t want to see homeless people, and we’ve been working very actively with Glasgow City Council who are willing to assist if they get the right legal advice to say that they are not acting against the law. There is that huge confusion about ‘what does constitute a public fund? What doesn’t constitute a public fund?’ Politically, there is a willingness to help. For me, and this is clear from the local authorities, if somebody is vulnerable, then they do have duty to support them, and they do in most cases with a struggle sometimes in some cases. For women with children, they take it for granted that it’s their duty to support families with children. The issue that we can assist with is we get the attention of the local authority and we get them aware of these cases. Lots of people are aware now that the local authorities might have to share information with the Home Office, so that stops people from approaching local authorities. So, they tend to go to third sector, so charity organisation like ourselves where they can trust, and then we can actually advocate on other people’s behalf.
Fiona Cotterill
You mentioned children. What particular pressures do children face when they come to Scotland?
Wafa Shaheen
If children arrive without their family, then the added pressure of they’re alone here in a foreign country. In Scotland, we have the guardianship project that we run in partnership with Aberlour so we manage the project but Aberlour which is a national children’s charity, they deliver the service, so each unaccompanied asylum child that comes to Scotland will have the right to have a guardian. This is actually funded by the Scottish Government, and the role of the guardian is to work with a child, not just to advise them and support them with their asylum process, but with all aspects of their lives, so the relationship with the social worker, the relationship with the education provider, and they run lots of social activities for children. So, the guardian works like a bridge between the child and all the services around them because there are so many things. There is the lawyer, there is the social worker, there is an immigration officer – it is a lot for children.
The issue with unaccompanied children – there are young children, so the whole concept of asylum is… mind you, the concept of asylum is not an easy concept for anybody, so imagine if you are a child, and if your child is 12, how do you explain to children this is what it means, and some children, if they are as young as 12 and 13, they will get granted discretional leave until they are 17 and a half and, sometimes, they don’t understand why they are not getting the right to stay. The other issue for unaccompanied asylum seekers is the need to prove their age and how do they get their age assessed, so some social workers will actually look at the child and say ‘I don’t believe you’re under 18’ and how do you accurately tell somebody’s age by their look or by any other measures? There are boys who have beards. Some children will look older than their age, and it’s really hard actually to prove their age, and there are cases where age was disputed, so we have both the guardian and the legal practitioner trying to advocate on their behalf with the social worker but we had a few cases where social workers were adamant that they are over 18 and we had to support people to travel to Croydon but it wasn’t comfortable for us to send these children who we are not sure if they are older than 18, and even if they are 18, putting people on bus overnight to Croydon is… it’s a big thing.
Fiona Cotterill
We’ve just mentioned social workers. In what circumstances do social workers become involved with asylum seekers?
Wafa Shaheen
For adults, in the asylum process, the only time that social workers get involved is when we make a referral, so there has to be a case – either adult protection or for vulnerability reasons basically. So, for example, we had somebody with severe health issues who was in hospital for a long time and, before he got discharged from hospital, he was destitute. We actually worked with Glasgow City Council and advocated on his behalf, and they accepted the responsibility, and they are supporting him through social work with financial assistance and accommodation. The other stuff that he needs, so access to legal provision, we are still working with him to see what options are available for him but, even if there is no option, the social work department have accepted to support him.
Fiona Cotterill
What advice would you give to individual social workers about dealing with asylum issues and individuals who maybe are seeking asylum or who’ve fallen out of that asylum system?
Wafa Shaheen
The advice I give to everybody, not just to social workers, when you deal with asylum seekers and refugees, remove the tag. Remove the tag of ‘asylum seeker’ and don’t look at the colour of the person. Look at their circumstances because that’s the whole purpose and the rationale behind all social work practices is the person that you deal with – what is their circumstances? And, to be fair to lots of social workers that we come across, they do understand this and want to treat people as people but the system and the structures they work in are very restrictive, there is a lot of confusion, and social workers on the ground need a lot of support from their managers. Immigration and legal issues are very complex. You have to be qualified to provide immigration advice, so if you are a social worker, it’s not your role to provide legal advice, plus it’s breaking the law if you give immigration advice or if you’re not a qualified immigration advisor.
Social worker can go to Scottish Refugee Council, or immigration lawyers. Scottish Refugee Council advisors are all registered with the Office of Immigration Service Commissioner, so they are experts in their field.