Ready for child refugees

South Ayrshire councillors heard the latest on the council’s commitment to unaccompanied children arriving in the UK as refugees, including the identification of foster carers in the area.

Much of the focus over the last year has been on the crisis in Afghanistan, with many fleeing the country from the Taliban.

However, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has brought another likely refugee crisis closer to home.

The council’s Leadership Panel was told that the council expects between six and eight Unaccompanied and AsylumSeeking Children (UASC) over the course of a year.

This is the result of the National Transfer Scheme which mandates local councils to provide care for the youngsters. The report states:“There has been on going engagement with COSLA and the United Nations Refugee Agency, to ensure that South Ayrshire were as informed as possible as to the receiving of UASC and had the appropriate infrastructure to support children/ young people who were nominated to come.

“For South Ayrshire this equates to receiving two children/young people per cycle over the year of 2022, which could result in between six and eight young people per year coming to South Ayrshire.”

The report reveals that the scheme will provide funding of £52,195 per year for children under the age of 18 and £14,040 for over 18s.

The cost of supporting the children will be met from the funding received, based on current costs of foster care and care leavers support.