Safeguarding asylum seeking children who remain with their families: a North East case study in the United Kingdom.

This research proposes to explore how accompanied asylum seeking children (AASC) are safeguarded in the North East of England, an area that houses the highest proportionate number of asylum seekers in the United Kingdom. While there has been a growing interest in academia around how to best safeguard unaccompanied asylum seeking children, there is a gap in research both locally and nationally around safeguarding AASC, whose needs and entitlements are unique due to the governance of immigration and asylum policy when remaining with their family. Social workers rely on effective multi-agency working to safeguard children, relying on timely sharing of information and multi-agency protection plans. Social work practitioners are also required to have an in-depth knowledge of the legislation that governs social benefit entitlement, in order to assess and navigate the support available to families. While AASC are excluded from many mainstream services and their entitlements differ to British citizens, it remains unclear as to how social workers address these differences, due to the gap in research. Through interviews with parents with refugee status, social work practitioners, Home Office contracted housing providers and nongovernment organisations, in addition to data accessed via the North of England Refugee Service, the proposed research will create a case study exploring how practitioners responsible for supporting asylum seekers in the North East of England safeguard AASC.