Not for everyone – a restrictive criteria Young people who are over 18 Families with young children in Europe Refugee family reunion rules allow parents who have In Northern France the British Red Cross have successfully claimed asylum in the UK to reunite identified a number of families with young children with their family members. But not if their children looking to reunite with family in the UK. However, are 18 or over. while these young children are by definition vulnerable in these camps, these families do not have the right Many young people aged 18 years old and over are to family reunification under the Dublin Regulation living with their parents when they are forced to flee unless spouses are separated from each other. their country. These young people are in their late teens or early twenties and do not have families of their own. Not simple – Current policy is keeping families apart. Unable to reunite through formal processes, young people are complex cases require more likely to undertake dangerous journeys that legal advice can end in tragedy. Allowing young people to reunite with their family Ninety-five per cent of the people we asked who members would provide the safe and legal routes use our family reunion service thought it would be the Government is so committed to. very difficult to apply for family reunion without legal support. Yet, refugee family reunion was taken out of legal aid Child refugees scope in April 2013 in England and Wales because There are provisions in place to allow unaccompanied it was considered a straightforward immigration children in the EU with relatives in other member matter that does not warrant the need for specialist states to reunite with extended family members legal support. as well as their parents (under Dublin III). However, Our evidence demonstrates that many refugee unaccompanied children outside the EU can only family reunion cases are complex and often require reunite with their parents and not other close the flexibility, expertise and experience of legal relatives in the UK. advisers to deal with them. As UNICEF have pointed out, ‘these laws fail to recognise that after years of conflict, many of these children have been orphaned – but they may have For example, our report, Not so grandparents, aunts and uncles, or adult brothers straightforward, found: and sisters in the UK who can care for them’. > Thirty-three per cent of 91 refugee family In addition, refugee children within the UK are reunion cases relied on witness statements unable to sponsor their parents living abroad to join and statutory declarations produced by legal them under refugee family reunion. advisers. A quarter featured an interview or documentation discrepancy. 14