A young person on CFAB’s Family Reunification Project has been granted refugee status – the impact of our work
This month, we are delighted to share some positive news from our Family Reunification Project, as one of the young people we work with has been granted refugee status. Shaya is a young person from Afghanistan, who arrived in the UK after staying in refugee camps in Greece. He was reunited with his aunt and her family in the UK but was sadly unable to stay with them due to housing difficulties.
Shaya was subsequently taken into care as a result and started taking part in an education programme and GCSE course. However, on his 18th birthday, he was removed from Children’s Social Services and placed far away from his aunt, family and the college course he was so excited about. Thanks to our advocacy at CFAB, we made sure he was moved to accommodation closer to his family and college, so he could keep building more roots in his new community. A few weeks later, the Home Office again tried to move him, and we managed to step in and keep him in the same accommodation, so he was not constantly being moved around the country away from everything familiar to him.
We have just found out that Shaya has been granted refugee status, news we are all delighted about! We’ll now be able to help him access mainstream housing and financial support so he can truly start his new life here with the facilities and care he deserves. We are grateful to play a part in such a positive outcome for Shaya and his family - it is another reminder of just how worthwhile and important this work is.
Our Family Reunification Project was set up to provide support, guidance and practical support to refugee children and young people such as Shaya, arriving in the UK to be reunited with their family. In the past year, we have helped 65 children and 41 families from countries including Afghanistan, Eritrea, Syria, Kuwait and Ethiopia, among others. We look forward to working towards and sharing more positive news about the lives and experiences of the families we support to settle here in the UK.
This project relies solely on donations and voluntary funding to run. We would be grateful if you would consider making a donation here.
