have been discovered in hotels intended for adults in recent months, with many fearful of leaving their rooms and some driven to suicidal ideation, while others have run away.
Children have had to live among adults, sometimes sharing rooms with strangers, for weeks or months before they have come into contact with a charity that has advocated to get them moved into care, at which point they undergo a formal age assessment and are often recognised as minors. Ms Harris said some age disputed minors were having to share rooms with adults, with one forced to share a double bed with a man he does not know. Clearsprings, the Home Office contractor managing the hotel, declined to comment. The Home Office did not deny that room-sharing was taking place.Hannah Marwood, of Care4Calais, said the charity has come across 421 cases of age disputed minors in hotels since September 2020, with a “significant increase” in recent months.
One young female from Ethiopia who says she is 16 has been in a mixed-gender hotel in London since October 2021 after she was deemed by the Home Office to be 23. She recently made contact with charity Da’aro Youth, to whom she disclosed that she was raped repeatedly during her journey to the UK. The Home Office age assessment process is currently facing a legal challenge, with lawyers from Instalaw Solicitors arguing that it is unlawful on the basis that the assessments are being carried out without the required safeguards in place, and on a number of other grounds.
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