Safe space in a new place: Finding homes for refugee children
Contents
A guide for fostering and supported lodgings for Refugee children
Children arriving in the UK need a safe, caring place to call home. Somewhere they can settle for a few weeks, months or sometimes years as they take steps towards rebuilding their future.
They are just children.
They arrive here from often incredibly traumatic situations – fleeing from war, persecution, violence and civil unrest. Some have been trafficked, many exploited as they made their way here. These refugee children arrive without parents or family to look after them. As a result, these children have emotional, cultural and practical needs – but you could be the one to help them reclaim their childhoods.
Supported lodgings
Supported lodgings is offering a place in your home to a teenager who has been in care or who arrives in this country with no family or safe place to stay. These children need support in a new country, in new surroundings. They could well be afraid or alone in the UK, uncertain of what the future now holds. As these children are older, they will be working towards having more independence. This means that you will be able to pass on life skills – such as cooking, home maintenance and basic financial advice – helping them to gain skills for independent adult life.
Download the You Can Foster guide to fostering supported lodgings for refugee children (PDF, 7MB)
“To see that smile on the children’s faces, to make a positive difference to their lives and put them on the right path- that’s what motivates us”
Foster carer
Refugee Child's journey
Children arrive in the UK from often incredibly traumatic situations – fleeing from war, persecution, violence and civil unrest. Some have been trafficked, many exploited as they made their way here. These refugee children arrive without parents or family to look after them. As a result, they may have emotional, cultural and practical needs – but you could be the one to help them reclaim their childhoods. They need a safe place to call home. They need to know that there is someone there for them. You could provide that safe space in a new place. They want to be in education or training, and you can be there to prepare them for the future and support them on their journey to independence.
“ It does not matter which part of the world they are from, children are children”
Foster Carer
Training and Support
You will be supported to access specialist training to look after refugee children and are always on hand to support you as you need. We’ll also give you information on the child’s legal status and any steps that need to be taken as well as their background, so you can understand their situation and what has happened to them. The training is commissioned to specialise services including facilitators with lived experience of migration.
The training offer ranges from understanding the experiences of these children during their journey to the UK, to good practice in supporting separated children when they arrive here. The Northwest Regional Strategic Migration Partnership mailing list also shares daily updates about upcoming training for carers and practitioners.
“It’s the best job that I have done. It’s so personal that the difference you make in the children’s lives and to their future”
Foster Carer