Council allocated ten refugee children

Elgan Hearn Local Democracy Reporter

Up to ten teenage refugees are currently under Blaenau Gwent council’s care as part of the UK’s National Transfer Scheme.

At a meeting of Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council’s Children, Young People and Families Scrutiny committee on Tuesday, November 11, councillors received a report which outlined Children’s Social Services Plan for reducing children in care over the next five-year period.

The report contained information on the number of children under the council’s care which includes Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children (UASC) and at the time the report was written the council had 9 in its care.

The report said that four were 16 years old and five were 17 years old and of this group, one was female and nine were male.

Cllr Gareth Alban Davies (Opposition Independent – Garnlydan and Rassau) asked for an explanation on UASC to be given to the committee

Cllr Daves asked: “Are they living here?”

Head of Children’s Social Services Loredana Moruz: “These are children who arrived in the UK and are allocated to each local authority we have a specific number of children we have to accept.

“They don’t necessarily land in Blaenau Gwent but are looked after by Blaenau Gwent.

“Most of them come over the channel and land in Kent.

“We have 10 now, because we’ve had more allocated.

“These children come from mostly Muslim countries where there is still a war.

“What we have done is place them in big cities when their cultural, religious and language needs can be met better than maybe in Blaenau Gwent

“Over the years most of these children have been placed in big authorities such as Birmingham, Manchester or Sheffield.

“We pay for those placements, and our Social Workers visit these children.”

Mandatory scheme

Ms Moruz explained that once these children turn 18 the council changes the way it looks after them.

This is because there are “very few” services available to help them in these English councils.

Ms Moruz continued: “We need to support them post 18 and it’s really difficult to support them living three to four hours away from Blaenau Gwent.

“So, we change our strategy, and the last four children (over 18) were allocated to a specific supported living provision that we created with a partner in Blaenau Gwent.

“They are doing really well, they settled and they are very motivated to do well in school and build a new life in the UK.”

Cllr Davies said: “Wales has always had a reputation for welcoming people into the country as a safe environment and I think that needs to continue.

“Unfortunately, there are people out there who want to spread things that are untrue.”

The youngsters are under the council’s wing as part of the UK Government’s National Transfer Scheme (NTS) which expects all local authorities to “play their part” and accept transfers of children into their care.

Originally a voluntary program, it became mandatory in February 2022.

It has provided a way for local authorities to safely transfer these children to another authority for a care placement.

This system aims to prevent the disproportionate burden of care from falling on a few entry point councils, particularly those in the South of England such as Kent Council.