Securing Migrant Children and Young People's belonging, identity and safety
Our projects
Family feedback
I gained more confidence in myself . The team are always there to listen and assist.
Practitioner feedback
A very child focused and creative approach to working with families. Offered a level of service and intervention that was beyond my role in terms of time and scope of work carried out.
Family feedback
Helping myself and my baby have a roof over our head. Making us feel loved and wanted. Helping with the issue of my immigration status.
Our projects and work at TwMC
We run a range of projects and other work across several themes that aim to work with children and families impacted and harmed by immigration control to realise rights, be safe and protect their identity. This page talks about the core themes that we work under.
We specialise in working with families where there are complex needs alongside immigration worries, through the provision of support from social workers and children's practitioners. For example, we work heavily with children with disabilities, where there are safeguarding concerns and welfare worries. We provide some specialist projects such as social work assessment, age dispute casework and challenges to care entitlements, care planning and support.
Our focus is on the provision of child focused, longer term support that is over and above what can be provided by advice services, for children, young people and families that require more intensive help and support.
Assessment and family support
Our assessment and family support work provides a range of different types of support, which we tailor in agreement with children and families. This is a large area of work delivered by our child & family practitioners and family support workers. The project provides things like;
-
Independent social work assessment concerning immigration matters, this can include things like reports about the best interests of children in immigration decisions.
-
Planning and needs assessments that help co-ordinate support around children and their families with a specialist view on issues such as destitution, immigration and children's needs.
-
Tailored family support including befriending and mentoring, parenting support, home visiting, youth work, helping children and families understand and navigate immigration and state systems.
-
Tailored support for families reunifying in the United Kingdom.
Anti-destitution
Our anti-destitution work is largely delivered by our family support workers with more complex casework provided by our child & family practitioners. They provide specialist casework, advocacy and support to families with inadequate housing, financial difficulties and children and families experiencing destitution and homelessness. The projects provides;
-
Advice, guidance and support understanding housing and financial support available for people with immigration difficulties or who have no recourse to public funds.
-
Supporting families and pregnant women to get support such as asylum support, support from children or adult social care
-
Help with practical things like finding grants, baby items, toys and books for children.
-
Pre-action and working with legal providers to challenge refusals to support, inadequate or delayed support.
-
Family support for families experiencing destitution.
Our anti-destitution work specialises in work with complexity including children with severe medical problems and disabilities and other family needs that need a specialist approach. We work a lot for instance dealing with destitution approaches where accommodation needs are specific and in-area considerations in NASS support, where children's needs may fall outside what is usually provided.
Access to justice
Our access to justice work supports children, young people and families to access high quality, free immigration advice through our partner agencies and then works to ensure they can access representation to assist them in their immigration matters. This work is delivered in partnership with legal providers and work in-house delivered by all staff and an access to justice volunteer.
**Please note that we do not provide immigration advice directly**
We work in partnership with immigration advice agencies to provide immigration advice.
-
Support accessing immigration advice
-
Exceptional case funding, in partnership with a firm of solicitors who provide additional casework support.
-
Support finding solicitors and representation when funding is granted.
-
Referrals to pro-bono representation and support.
-
We are members of the DPG PAP Project so can do some welfare rights pre-action work in house, then refer cases on to community care solicitors we work closely with to progress cases if needed.
Practitioner advice and support
Our practitioner advice and support enables us to contribute to cases without necessarily taking them on, or to advise that we can take a referral into our service.
-
Support practitioners to advocate for children, young people and families around entitlements to support.
-
No names consultation to discuss issues that you are having and we can then provide advice on case progression, guidance, signposting, or take a referral.
-
Attendance at team around the family meetings, child in need meetings, core groups and other meetings to provide advice and support on planning for children with complex needs.
Unaccompanied asylum-seeking children
We provide a very flexible support service for unaccompanied children and young people comprising specialist casework, general befriending and support and practical help. This work is delivered by our children's practitioners in partnership with legal practitioners we work with. The type of work we can undertake here includes;
-
Supporting young people to access rights and entitlements and challenge decisions made about them.
-
Age dispute casework and support - We offer a full wrap-around casework provision for young people challenging age assessments, case managed and led by senior children's practitioners. We work in partnership with a handful of community care solicitors to ensure strong, coordinated working.
.
-
Practical help like accessing medical help, education and support attending appointments and meetings.
-
Emotional and social support including activities, groups and 1-on-1 mentoring.
-
Acting as a responsible or appropriate adult in interviews such as age assessments, police interviews and Home Office interviews.
Project news, updates and blogs
