How do we do it?
The West Midlands Young Refugees Project is currently working in five main areas to support refugee and asylum seeking children.
Leading Edge: Working with Young Refugees and Asylum Seekers aged 11 – 18 in Education
We work with young people aged 11-18 through our Leading Edge education project. This is a youth-led national programme, funded by the Big Lottery, aimed at increasing inclusion of refugees and asylum seekers in education. The project works in local secondary schools, empowering young people to solve their own problems, integrate and articulate their needs. In Birmingham we work across a number of secondary schools running drop in sessions, homework support, 121 support and holiday activities.
Destitution Pilot: Working with Children and Families affected by Destitution
The Children’s Society is piloting work to support babies, children, families and young people who are destitute as a result of the asylum process. Working in Birmingham and Stoke, the project is delivering casework to help move families out of destitution, and is providing interim crisis grants in partnership with other local agencies. It will evaluate the work and scope out the potential to both continue the work and replicate the model in other locations.
BUMP: The Befriending Unaccompanied Minors Project
BUMP supports young unaccompanied asylum seekers and refugees aged 14-18. Under the Children Act the Local Authority cares for all unaccompanied asylum seeking and refugee children. The majority of young people attending BUMP live in the Birmingham area, although we are increasingly supporting young people who are housed in neighbouring authorities. BUMP supports these young people by offering them a place where they can feel safe and included. We provide a positive, youth focused environment where young unaccompanied minors can have fun, meet with other young people from their local community and find out more about opportunities in the area. We do this by recruiting and training a large team of volunteer befrienders who are 18 - 25 years old and come from all sectors of the local community. Their role is to befriend the young refugees and build positive relationships with them through group activities and one-to-one support. The group activities are at the heart of BUMP and include events such as outings, meals cooked by the young people themselves, or playing games and sports together. Saturday trips take place twice a month and enable young people to develop their social interests, have fun and learn about the local area. Thursday drop-in meetings are also held twice a month, where young people have an opportunity to socialise, discuss issues that are important to them and get advice at our ‘Advice and Advocacy Surgery’.
Press Play: Working with Asylum Seeking Children Housed in Temporary
Accommodation in Birmingham
Currently, the main emergency accommodation in the West Midlands is a hostel in Birmingham in which newly arrived asylum seekers are housed, from single men to families to single women with children. The hostel is run by a private company that has been contracted by the Home Office, and caters for basic needs, food and shelter. We provide regular play activities at the hostel to enable children to have fun, play, be creative and above all, to be children.
Birmingham Integrated Mentoring Service: Mentoring for Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children and Children Leaving Care in Birmingham
A partnership project between The Children’s Society and SOVA, the Integrated Mentoring Service is a new mentoring project for Children leaving care who are moving into independent living (or semi independent living) and Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children. The work is funded by Birmingham City Council for three years, starting in 2009. Based in Birmingham, the project will work to break down barriers that both groups face (including social exclusion, difficulty in accessing vital services and lack of engagement in education, employment or training). This will be done through sustained commitment between the project staff and the young people, recruiting mentors from the local community and appropriate mentor matching with the young people. Staff and mentors will then work with the young people to deal with issues surrounding heritage, identity and culture and identifying realistic aspirations and aims for the future with the young person.
