Senior councillors will visit the ‘Calais jungle' migrant camp tomorrow as part of a trip considering measures to keep unaccompanied children and young people safe.
The Local Government Association (LGA) delegation will meet with Calais mayor Natacha Bouchart to discuss cooperation between English and French local authorities on tackling the refugee crisis.
Smith Square has called on the French authorities to speed up the processing of lone child asylum seekers in the Calais refugee camp, settling them in new homes or reuniting them with their families.
Kent CC alone has taken in around 840 lone children claiming asylum out of more than 4,000.
Chairman of the LGA's asylum, refugee and migration task group, Cllr David Simmonds, called for more national coordination to ensure members of the public who wish to foster Syrian children are directed to their local council.
‘Councils rely heavily on foster carers to support many of the vulnerable children in their care and children's services departments have witnessed a significant shortage of carers across the country in recent years,' he said.
‘Since the plight of Syrian refugees hit the media last year, there has been an outpouring of sentiment shown by the British public. This needs to turn into practical help. National co-ordination is essential to share intelligence around foster care capacity.'
