Introduction

The experiences of separated children who seek asylum in the UK and attempt to negotiate the complex array of individuals and institutions with whom they come into contact is increasingly well documented (Bhabha and Finch, 2007). Less often considered is the extent to which the success – or otherwise – of these children in securing refugee status and access to appropriate housing, welfare and educational support is determined not only by their individual experiences and abilities, but also by a particular conceptualisation of ‘childhood’ that pervades the asylum process. This chapter examines the ways in which children's experiences of conflict, human rights abuse and loss are assessed and interpreted, through reference to the particular experiences of children whose physical appearance and account of what has happened in their lives lead them to be ‘age disputed’ and treated as adults. For this group of children, a conceptualisation of ‘childhood’ that requires them to be apolitical and without agency has concrete and significant implications for their ability to access international protection and rebuild their lives in the UK.

Understanding the context: the UK asylum system

The past decade has seen considerable changes in policy and practice in the UK's system for determining asylum applications and for providing support to individuals and families awaiting a decision on their claims for protection. These changes include measures aimed at reducing the number of asylum applications, decreasing the costs of supporting asylum seekers, and forcibly removing individuals and families from the UK who are considered to be at the end of the process (Home Office, 1998, 2001, 2005). While the use of welfare support as an immigration control mechanism is nothing new, the extent to which ‘internal controls’ have been utlilised is unprecedented (Cohen et al., 2002). Also unprecedented is the extent to which asylum and immigration policy in the UK has developed a discourse of exclusion for those who are not seen as ‘legitimate’ beneficiaries of support (Walters, 2004; Schuster, 2005; McDonald and Billings, 2007).

Separated children seeking asylum in the UK had, until relatively recently, been protected from the worst aspects of these changes. Separated children are, by definition, children who have been deprived of their family environment and are therefore recognised as requiring particular kinds of support.