Barnardo's chief executive Lynn Perry has responded to the Independent Chief Inspector for Borders and Immigration (ICIBI) report on age assessments.
She said: “The findings from the ICIBI confirm what we at Barnardo’s have seen and warned about for years, that many children who are seeking sanctuary in the UK are being failed by the system.
“This new report on age assessments sadly validates our longstanding concerns. It found that the initial age assessment process at the Border is not fit for purpose, with children repeatedly not believed when they say they are under 18. It also highlights avoidable failures, a culture of mistrust and a disregard for child welfare and safeguarding, including children being forced to sleep on hard benches and floors, enduring prolonged waits without child-friendly facilities or being interviewed in a culturally insensitive way, often without an interpreter present.
“For these children, being misclassified as adults means their chance of care and protection is taken away. Children misclassified as adults are housed with adults, putting them at risk of exploitation and denying them key protections that all children need.
“A child, regardless of their background, is first and foremost a child and must be given the benefit of the doubt to be treated as such by all authorities. It is unacceptable that in 2025 we still have frightened children, who came to the UK seeking sanctuary, being treated as adults based on a heavily flawed system.”