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Impacts of Age Assessment for Child Refugees’ Asylum Pathways and Mental Health
Dr Ingi IusmenÌý: Associate Professor
Summary of the Project
This focuses on the age assessment process of unaccompanied migrant children conducted by the Home Office at point of entry into the UK and it aims to explore its impact on asylum-seeking minors’ mental health and their safeguarding risks associated with their being wrongly assessed as adults. The project’s main activities are a network building event focusing on the specific age assessment issues identified by from literature and interviews and co-designing a research project which is aligned with the needs of the stakeholders.
Areas of Research Interest
This project is relevant to three areas of research interest (ARIs)Ìýin 2019.
Firstly, our findings provide evidence about and its implications for the government’s responsibility to safeguard minors vis-à -vis its services from deception and exploitation.
Secondly, the ARI of can be considered as flawed age assessments risk minors being placed in adult hotels and being preyed upon by criminal gangs, becoming victims of modern slavery, exploitation and trafficking.
Thirdly, our findings address the ARI as it is critical to better understand how experiences of the UK asylum process undermine refugee minors’ trust in the UK’s services and authorities, risking their prospects for a good quality life in the UK, or when they return.Ìý
Advice for future applicants to the New Things Fund
Their project should focus on a timely issue that is both politically and policy-relevant and has the support of the main stakeholders in that area.
What you are most looking forward to from the funding?
I’m looking forward to building the stakeholder network and getting the support of some of the main politicians and policy-makers for our research project and its findings for the asylum community in the UK.
Project Video
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