Raising Children: Safeguarding Children in Parental Deportation Decisions
Children in the UK whose parents face deportation are not having their safeguarding needs met or legal rights properly considered, a new research report suggests.
New research reveals that thousands of children in the UK are having life changing decisions made about them without being heard.
The report, Raising Children: Safeguarding Children in Parental Deportation Decisions – a collaboration with researchers at University of Birmingham, University of Liverpool's School of Law and Social Justice and Social Workers Without Borders – is the first empirical study of the legal and procedural protections afforded to children with a parent facing deportation.
The report finds:
- Children’s welfare is routinely ignored in deportation decisions concerning a parent
- Life changing outcomes are made with little or no evidence about children’s needs
- Families spend an average of 5.2 years in deportation proceedings
- There is no official data tracking how many children are affected
- The Home Office is failing its legal duty to safeguard children
Despite clear legal protections, children are rarely consulted, rarely represented, and often made invisible even when separation causes serious harm to their wellbeing, education, and future life chances.
With increasing political focus on immigration enforcement and forced removal, this research could not be more urgent.
Below, you can read a press release, an executive summary and the full report, to understand what is happening, why it matters, and what must change.
Raising Children Press Release
- Raising Children Press Release (Word doc)
Raising Children Executive Summary
Raising Children Report
