Fostering Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Young People: Creating a Family Life Across a ‘World of Difference’ by Jim Wade, Ala Sirriyeh, Ravi Kohli and John Simmonds BAAF Adoption and Fostering, London, 2012, 324 pp. £14.95. ISBN: 978 1 907585 555

Abstract

This book is a comprehensive and accessible account of the challenges of working with unaccompanied asylum-seeking young people in foster care, but also a reconfirmation of the positive practice that can be achieved when working with a particularly vulnerable group, if training and approaches are focused on the specific and potential needs of the client group. As acknowledged, the group are a small but significant part of the UK looked-after population. The book contributes to understanding the developing practice that is required to work effectively with a group of young people who are likely to have particularly complex circumstances, prior to, during and often after their time looked after. In describing the findings of their comprehensive study, the authors have clearly elucidated the challenges and signposted the most promising practice that characterizes work with unaccompanied young people. Covering different aspects of the relevant issues the book is organized in such a way as to allow the reader to dip in and out of each chapter to consult as stand-alone guides for specific areas of intervention, or read as a whole to ensure nothing is missed in a holistic approach. The methods chapter provides a clear introduction to the subject matter indicating the robust approaches taken to the study, useful as an indicator of the comprehensive nature of the work and the findings that follows. For those short on time, the concluding chapter provides an excellent overview of the book, covering what I would consider to be the main points, and easily stands alone as a ‘good practice guide’. The overall layout is clear and sequential in a logical order – ideal as a reference and overview. What is apparent throughout, from within the findings of this particular study and references to previous work, is that the basic building blocks of good fostering and support remains consistent whatever the cultural and ethnic background of the young people. Perhaps the main message that I have taken from the work, is that the basic principles of good practice always apply and that working effectively, and towards positive outcomes for unaccompanied asylum-seeking young people is largely no different from the approach taken with any young person in foster care. The issues raised will also be pertinent to working with unaccompanied young people in most settings, residential or otherwise. Overall, the book provides a clear and concise overview of the issues of working with unaccompanied young people in foster care and is an accessible text for all those working with the client group. Its focus on many of the day to day issues means that it will also be a useful reference point for working with all unaccompanied children and children arriving in the UK from abroad – highlighting the simple, but important steps that can be taken to improving the situations of children arriving in a strange country. While the complex circumstances of this particularly vulnerable group of young people, at times requiring some specialist knowledge, are highlighted, the not so different nature of the work from any young person in foster care is illuminated – children are children first and foremost.