Councils struggle to cope with inf lux

A HUGE influx of child refugees arriving in Britain has left councils struggling to find homes for thousands of troubled teenagers.

More than 4,200 child asylum seekers were in council care last year – a 54 per cent increase on the previous year – and local authorities have warned that they cannot find enough foster care places.

The increase in numbers has left many councils facing massive budget shortfalls, with one local authority, Kent County Council, reporting that it spent £34million on care for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC) in the last financial year.

Officials warned that such children were likely to suffer psychological problems because of horrors witnessed in their home country, or on their journey to Britain.

Kent, which has taken 1,754 UASC into its care in the past five years, reported that 41 per cent of health assessments found evidence of psychological symptoms including post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and flashbacks. Experts have questioned if enough support is available for refugee children, and for the foster carers who take them into their homes.

The growing number of arrivals also raises questions about whether councils have sufficient resources to vet for any signs of radicalisation.

A counter-terrorism think-tank warned earlier this year that militant groups such as Islamic State were deliberately targeting young refugees in camps in Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan.

The Quilliam Foundation said extremists worked with people traffickers and funded travel to Europe for migrants, in the hope of ‘buying’ their allegiance.

The vast majority of asylum applications from UASC come from 16 and 17-year-old males, leaving councils struggling to find foster places for troubled young men.

In Kent, the council has opened reception centres solely for boys aged 16 or 17, where they can stay for up to eight weeks, because it said its normal care placements were at ‘full capacity’.

Department for Education figures revealed there were 4,210 UASC in council care last year, compared with 2,740 in 2015 and 1,950 in 2013. Meanwhile, the Home Office said the number of lone children claiming asylum has risen every year for the past seven years, from 1,515 in 2010 to 3,290 in 2016.

The Local Government Association has warned that the central government funding councils receive does not cover the full costs of caring for child refugees.