Nearly 20% of the unaccompanied Albanian children taken in by Kent County Council this year have vanished.
As of October 31st, the local government had taken in 197 Albanian youngsters, of whom 39 have gone missing.
Ecpat UK, an organization that strives to safeguard children from exploitation, deemed the numbers to be quite alarming.
The council stated that it has collaborated extensively with the Home Office and police to protect children at risk.
The council reported that between 1 January and 31 October, 197 Albanian youngsters processed by the Home Office’s Kent Intake Unit entered its care.
In addition, as of November 7th, 39 were listed as missing. However, it was said that some of these children would now be 18 years old.
According to government statistics compiled by the BBC, 44,122 persons have crossed on tiny boats so far this year, compared to 28,461 in 2021.
This led to overcrowding at the Manston processing center in Kent, which at one point held approximately 4,000 individuals, more than double its capacity.
Also of worry is the increased incidence of diphtheria among asylum seekers who have recently arrived in the United Kingdom.
As a result of a legal dispute, a government proposal to deport certain asylum seekers to Rwanda is temporarily on pause.
For a local government that has assumed the role of a child’s guardian, the disappearance of a single youth is one too many.
It must be quite concerning for Kent County Council not to know the location of 39 of the Albanian youngsters for whom it was responsible.
The council admits that it can be challenging to prevent the disappearance of some youngsters.
It is attempting to proactively identify kids who may be vulnerable to exploitation, and, when missing children are located, it will conduct a debriefing to determine whether lessons may be learned.
It has undoubtedly felt under pressure in recent years due to the amount of asylum-seeking children it has been compelled to accommodate, at times refusing to accept any more asylum-seeking children because its services were at capacity.
Now, a greater number of unaccompanied youngsters are being spread throughout the nation. However, the difficulty of protecting these children from possible damage persists.
This year, more than 12,000 Albanian migrants have reached the United Kingdom by boat, an almost 4000% increase compared to 2021.
Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick highlighted the issue by stating that on certain tiny boats, eighty percent of the passengers were from Albania.
Laura Durán, head of policy, advocacy, and research at Ecpat UK, characterized the number of missing children as “very high.
She stated, “We are quite worried that they are at risk of exploitation or have been trafficked.
They may be subject to labor exploitation in businesses like construction or car washes; they may be exploited criminally in drug distribution or cannabis farms, or they may be sexually exploited.
Kent County Council stated in a statement that the number of unaccompanied Albanian children referred to its services had increased significantly.
It stated, “While all unaccompanied asylum-seeking youngsters are exposed to exploitation, research and experience indicate that some nationalities are especially vulnerable and can quickly disappear from local authority care.”
“The Kent County Council has employed both existing safeguarding mechanisms, including the National Referral Mechanism, and multi-agency measures to minimize the dangers to these children as much as feasible.
“The council continues to play a proactive role in protecting all unaccompanied children seeking asylum in its care.”
