The Home Office is preparing to reopen a hotel in Hove to house unaccompanied asylum-seeking children – and the council could go to court to try to stop the move.
The Labour leader of Brighton and Hove City Council, Bella Sankey, said that 50 children and young people who went missing from the hotel previously had still not been found.
Councillor Sankey told the council’s Strategy, Finance and City Regeneration Committee today (Thursday 22 June) that the council would do what it could to stop the government from placing children in Hove.
Earlier this month, the Family Division of the High Court ruled that unaccompanied asylum-seeking children were the responsibility of local authorities like Brighton and Hove City Council.
They were “children in need” and councils had powers and duties to protect them under the Children Act.
Councillor Sankey said:
“We are desperately worried about the 50 people who remain missing from the last time the Home Office housed unaccompanied children in this city, including 11 children under 18 years old.
“And we continue to co-operate with Sussex Police and national police in efforts to find these children.
“This administration is now using every means available to stop this unlawful and shameful practice.
“One of our first acts was to put the Home Office on notice that we consider this practice unlawful.
“This week we’ve been informed that they are getting the hotel ready again to receive more unaccompanied asylum-seeking children, against our views and with almost no notice, because of a complete failure on the part of the government to make the arrangements necessary to care for these children in appropriate settings.
“There is now the prospect of immediate litigation so I have been advised not to say too much.
“But what I can say is we are seeking to stop this from happening and we are committed to ensuring that any asylum-seeking child in this city gets the services they are entitled to and deserve.”
Fellow Labour councillor Jacob Taylor asked how the court ruling would affect the council’s work.
Deb Austin, the council’s executive director for children, families and learning, said that the council would have to assess any child placed in local hotels as they would any other child.
Once assessments were completed, council staff would decide whether the children should move from a hotel to a community placement.
Campaigners have called on the government to provide proper funding so that councils can fulfil their duties to look after vulnerable children.
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