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<p>The Home Office has a duty to maintain effective immigration control. It may be necessary on occasion to detain a member of the household or another adult who is part of the care arrangements for children, thus separating a family.</p><p>Regular reviews of detention consider whether the ongoing detention is a proportionate interference in the Article 8 rights of each member of the family and take account of any new information that is obtained.</p><p>When assessing whether children should be removed from their family unit, the impact of the separation is considered carefully. Any information concerning the children that is available or can reasonably be obtained must be considered. The conclusion reached will depend on the specific facts of each case. Detention decision makers are also instructed to have regard to the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children in accordance with our duties under Section 55 of the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009.</p><p>The separation of children from their parents for immigration purposes can be justified in exceptional circumstances for safeguarding reasons where the welfare of the child is compromised by their remaining with a parent, for example to prevent children from being at risk of, or witnessing, disruptive or violent behaviour, or when the Independent Family Returns Panel (IFRP) advises that a separation is in a child or the children’s best interests.</p><p>Home Office guidance provides that nursing mothers must not be separated from the child they are nursing, and that a child must not be separated from both adults for immigration purposes, or from one, in the case of a single-parent family, if the consequence of that decision is that the child would be taken into care.</p> |