Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children (UASC)/new arrivals
Many UASC (Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children) have arrived without parents or family in the UK. They are isolated, vulnerable, and need our help.
For UASC, their experiences are complex, having endured much uncertainty and fear throughout their migration. Many UASC have been subjected to abuse, trafficking, loss of parents, torture, war, and poverty.
Our UASC programmes work with young people in the UK who are undergoing an individual asylum process for leave to remain.
We provide a variety of fun and wellbeing-focused activities across Greater Manchester. These are attached to skills development, social action projects and advice networks for the young people to participate in while waiting for their cases to be assessed.
As well as our delivery, we partner with the Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit (GMIAU), which supports people subject to immigration control with free advice, representation, and support services.
This provides a unique support offer that can be transformational for young people who have endured a traumatic migration following their displacement.
We provide vital provisions to ensure these young people have pathways out of isolated positions to engage in their wider community and build new relationships.
“This residential has been one of the best trips of my life, thank you GMYN!”
An asylum-seeking young person enjoying a visit to the Lake District for the first time!
We provide a variety of development activities, including:
- Wellbeing focused activities: supporting young people to overcome personal barriers, build relationships and work through trauma amongst peers.
- Day visits and travel training: supporting young people in trips to towns, cities, areas of natural beauty (AONB) and heritage sites within the Northwest region. We intentionally engage our young people in their local and broader communities.
- Life skills activities: supporting young people to build key skills and capabilities in the absence of further training and employment opportunities.
- Social Action campaigns: raising awareness of prevalent issues for these young people and engaging/giving back to their community.
- One-to-one support: enabling unaccompanied children to have direct one-to-one support from a GMYN Programme Coordinator. This provides them with a positive and consistent role model they can speak with regularly regarding their engagement, and discuss personal setbacks and aspirations.
