Kent County Council took in 197 Albanian children up to the end of October – and 39 have gone missing.
03 December 2022
Almost a fifth of lone Albanian child migrants have gone missing, a council has revealed.
Kent County Council took in 197 unaccompanied child migrants from Albania between January 1 and October 31 of this year and, of those, 39 are missing.
The figures were revealed following a Freedom of Information request by the BBC.
Kent County Council had previously announced it could no longer take in any more child migrants between June and November 2021 and between August and December 2020.
Each time they said its services were overwhelmed and called on other authorities to take in more unaccompanied children.
Albanians have accounted for the largest number of people coming in small boats across the Channel this year, making up more than 12,000 of the arrivals.
In a statement provided to the BBC, Kent County Council said it had seen a “significant increase” in the number of unaccompanied Albanian children referred to its services.
A spokesman added: “Whilst all unaccompanied asylum-seeking children are vulnerable to exploitation…research and experience evidences that some nationalities are particularly vulnerable and can go missing from local authority care very quickly.
“Kent County Council has used both established safeguarding protocols, including the National Referral Mechanism, and initiated multi-agency strategies to minimise the risks for these children as much as possible.
“The council continues to take a proactive role in safeguarding all unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in its care.”
