ZAn Exploration of Cultural & Ethical Factors when assessing the age of Children Refugees

Target Group / Level

All Social Workers across Children’s and Adults Services

Course Overview

Age assessments are an area that present both practical but also ethical challenges for social workers who have to undertake them. The purpose of this course is to ensure that practitioners have the skills and knowledge required to undertake assessments with the necessary rigour so as to ensure fair and appropriate access to services. Keeping the sight of the welfare needs of children and young people is a critical aspect of this process. This course would explore these dilemmas to help identify strategies for managing challenges in this area, including developing an approach that is both robust and based on a strong ethos of children’s rights

Learning Outcomes

By the end of workshop participants should have: 
• An improved understanding about the role of age assessments in the context of the legal framework for children’s services 
• Examined the knowledge base in this area, and its implications for practice. 
• Explored current practice guidance and how this can be applied to practice. 
• An improved understanding about the implications of the needs of children and young people who have arrived in the UK having experienced trauma and loss. 
• Be able to recognise the implications of working cross culturally with children and young people, within a rights based context. 
• Explore the ethical dilemmas that arise in this area of work and how they can be managed within a social work and multi-agency context. 
• Be able to identify the barriers that can arise in this area of practice and in joint working with other agencies; and how these can be overcome to improve outcomes for refugee children and young people. 
• Be able to recognise how knowledge and practice links to the knowledge and skills statement for approved child and family practitioners