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Young people facing age assessments (particularly those in adult accommodation) are often very isolated and often don't have anyone helping them. These young people need extra support with two main things:
Watch this video to understand how young people going through age assessments can feel.
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When you first meet with a young person, it's your chance to start building trust. You want to show them that you empathise and that you understand how they feel, that you are on their side and that you’ll do what you can to support them with the age assessment.
The foundation of a trusted relationship is honest communication; don’t make promises you can’t keep. This can include explaining your organisation’s policy regarding safeguarding and disclosures.
Age disputed children are often extremely vulnerable and often need a lot of help and support. Remember that how a child behaves with you depends on what they've been through before and your communication style, behaviour and demeanour. The way you act and speak makes a big difference.
The child may have severe mental health issues or have had negative interactions with people in in charge in the past which inform the way they engage with you. They will almost certainly have experienced trauma - at home, on the journey, in the UK.
This can impact on how willing and able they are to share all of their story with you. Keep this in mind especially as you ask them about their claimed age.
If a young person's story is inconsistent or seems unclear, it is not because they are lying. It is much more likely to be because they don't feel ready to share traumatic memories with someone who’s a stranger to them and with whom they don’t have a relationship, and because their memories have become confused following the passage of time and experience of trauma.
Keep your language simple, avoid jargon and keep checking they understand what you're saying.
Manage their expectations from the start - having your age assessed can be very slow and challenging an adverse decision is also a slow process.
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We have worked with young people to create translated resources to help explain the process to them - access the resources.
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Ask only essential questions about topics that might be upsetting for the young person, including: their journey to the UK, their life in their home country, their family back home. And if you do, make sure there is a clear reason for asking these questions. Asking about the young person’s journey is rarely necessary in terms of the information needed to request an age assessment.
Avoid asking too many questions or repeatedly asking the same questions about their age assessment if you can - it can be very frustrating to have to give the same information over and over again.
If you are feeling stuck for things to talk about try asking them what activities they enjoy, or speaking about a safer topic like food or sport, while you build rapport and trust.
It’s really important that you explain your role early and set out expectations for how the child can contact you, how regularly you can respond, when you might next see them, etc. Children who are age disputed have often been let down and/or treated badly by professionals within the UK, so setting expectations around communication is an essential part of building trust.
Do not make assumptions that you know what a child in this scenario wants or needs - it is important to explain the process to them clearly but also ask for their perspective and regularly check-in with and update them. This might give you the opportunity to support them with things outside of their age assessment matter - for example they might want to find a place of worship, or somewhere to learn English, etc.