Appeal For Foster Carers as Ealing Takes in 'Dubs' Children

Rory Thomas talks to Julian Bell about Ealing's commitment to refugees

You’ve been to Calais recently and stated Ealing needs to take our share of migrant children. How many children will Ealing be fostering?

I committed to ten “Dubs” children. They are children who had arrived in Europe prior to 25th March 2016, and qualify under Lord Alf Dubs amendment to the Immigration Act, which allows migrant children with no family in the UK to come here.

 How many children came to the UK after the camp was dismantled?

The last I heard earlier this week it was nearly 300, and more since I imagine. The Dubs are the more vulnerable: young girls etc. So far we’ve taken seven or eight.

When you say taken?

So the week before the camp was dismantled, a group of fifty Dubs children arrived in Croydon. We got a call asking if we could take two girls, 15 and 16. Various administrative checks taken, and then the social worker picked them up that evening and they were taken to foster carers in Acton. We’ve subsequently taken some teenage boys too.

Are they in the system, or been appropriated families yet?

So far all of the Dubs children we’ve had to find foster carers for them. We had to have some spare foster care capacity and taking ten was about as much as we could accommodate.

Do you mean there aren’t enough foster carers to accommodate the numbers?

Yes. Prior to Calais, we’ve been encouraging people to become foster carers because generally there are better outcomes for the children. We do still have a shortage though. We train and recruit them. We have placed these children from Calais. We are now at the point where we’ve just about the limit of our capacity.

It was reported recently there are a shortage of foster carers in the UK, which you’ve confirmed again. With more children coming in, will they fall through the cracks?

Boys that are 16 and 17 we can put in semi-independent foster care that don’t require carers. Actually, a large number of children left in Calais are 16 and 17-year-old boys so they are easier to deal with. It’s a challenge. We want more people in the community to come forward. There’s a gateway system the government uses whereby unaccompanied children are distributed to all local authorities across the country. London takes about 42% of those children. Children who have family in Ealing and come via the Gateway scheme, still might end up foster care temporarily until everything is verified because the government did all this on the hoof.

You say there’s a strain and its challenging, but given the circumstances are we doing enough?

“I think London has an expertise in dealing with these children. Historically we’ve always taken more in London because of airport proximity etc. We’ve not taken as many Syrian adult refugees, and this is due to government funding for housing costs. We’ve found a way to manage this through sheltered housing to take vulnerable elderly refugees. But broadly, the government isn’t letting us take the adults, so let’s take the children”.

So within the context of Ealing, do we have an open door attitude?

I see no problem in welcoming people, refugees. There is a capacity issue. Before I say we can take ten, I have to ensure they can be accommodated. If every council took ten the problem would be solved.

Find out more about fostering here

9th November 2016