Description
Building understanding, legal confidence, and trauma-informed care for some of the most vulnerable young people in our care system.
Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children (UASC) carry experiences of harrowing journeys, active conflict, sudden loss, and arriving alone in an unfamiliar country without language or family. Arriving in the UK does not automatically bring peace; navigating language barriers, complex immigration processes, and cultural disorientation can make safety feel out of reach.
This comprehensive training equips carers, social workers, and residential staff with the trauma-informed strategies, legal awareness, and practical skills needed to transform fear and uncertainty into stability, belonging, and hope.
Key Learning Highlights
- Understanding the UASC Journey: Gain insight into the pre-flight trauma, dangerous transit hazards, and post-arrival struggles experienced by children fleeing war, persecution, and exploitation.
- UK Legal Frameworks & The Asylum Process: Demystify the UK asylum system, the Refugee Convention, local authority Section 20 duties, the National Transfer Scheme (NTS), age assessments, and the anxiety surrounding the transition to 18.
- Decoding Trauma & Grief: Recognise complex trauma responses (Fight, Flight, Freeze, Fawn, PTSD/C-PTSD) symptoms, and ambiguous loss. This shifts our approach from “What is wrong with this child?” to “What has happened to them?”
- Practical, Trauma-Informed Caregiving: Build safety through predictable daily structure, gentle advance notice, de-escalation, and non-verbal communication tools when English is limited.
- Culturally Sensitive Practice: Respect and integrate dietary needs (halal, kosher), religious observances, and cultural norms into daily care without expecting assimilation.
- Safeguarding Against Exploitation: Identify warning signs for trafficking, modern slavery, and county lines exploitation, mastering prompt reporting and National Referral Mechanism (NRM) protocols.
- Unconscious Bias & Values Reflection: Reflect on personal assumptions, media narratives, and affinity or attribution biases to deliver fair, rights-respecting advocacy.
- Multi-Agency & Pathway Planning: Navigate statutory PEPs, health assessments, legal disclosures, and long-term care leaver planning up to age 25.
Why Choose This Course?
Research shows that having even one reliable, consistent, and warm adult in a young person’s life dramatically improves educational, emotional, and social outcomes. This course moves beyond basic awareness, turning legal guidelines and trauma theory into everyday caregiving habits that protect resilience and give young refugees the dignity they deserve.
Who Should Attend: Foster Carers, Prospective Adopters, Supervising Social Workers, Residential Child Care Workers (RCCWs), Team Managers, and Support Professionals working with UASC and young refugees.
Format: This is a live training session through Zoom. It includes taught sections, small group work, work in pairs, and whole group discussions.
Hand-outs & Certificates: Downloadable course notes and certificates of attendance are provided.