Introduction
This report will be based on children of Syrian families that fled the war and are seeking asylum in the UK. I will be focusing at what crisis’s Syrian families go through, their parenting styles before and after the crisis point, legislations and support given to these families in order for them to fit in to the European society. I will also attempt to understand the impact of religion and culture on the children of these families.
Ruwa is a 7-year-old Syrian girl from the Ali family with two brothers; Suhail (4-year-old) and Yahi (2-year-old) she last saw her father in Syria and her mother (Za) is currently suffering from Depression and Paranoia, at times she struggles to care for them. Za is entitled to receive money while her application is being reviewed, this money hardly pays for food since most things like nappies are expensive. Due to her illness Za is not able to care for her children at times, with no experience Ruwa has to feed clean and take care of her two brothers alone, being heavily relayed on could stress her at such a young age.
Asylum Seekers
Granting 'asylum' means giving someone permission to stay in a different country usually because of a fear of persecution. According to (Fitzpatrick, J., 1996) being an asylum seeker and being a refugee is not necessarily the same concept, an asylum seeker is a person who leaves his/her home country and purses protection in another country, this person’s application to seek asylum has yet to be concluded. Refugee on the other hand, is a person who leaves his/her home country and purses protection in another country, however, this person has been granted asylum to stay in the EU and is entitled to enjoy particular rights under international law.
Not anyone can claim to be an asylum seeker if there is no proof that there is a threat to someone’s life then they may be deported back to their country. The application to seek asylum in the UK can take many years to be concluded this waiting period causes problems for children and families. Asylum applications increased in 2002 with over 84 thousand people and it declined in 2010 to 17,900 people. Today we have 118,995 asylum seekers living in the UK, that means around 100 thousand families are most likely living in poverty just like Ruwa’s.
Crisis points of applying for asylum
After long years of waiting for permission to stay in the country, people’s applications could be refused just like Za, who was refused asylum due her not being credible. The Asylum office was looking for proof of the following:
a) That they feared prosecution and harmful treatment.
b) That this fear of prosecution and harmful treatment is based on hard evidence
c) That the person could not find protection anywhere in their country
d) That if the person returned to their country in the future they would experiencing such harmful treatment and persecution.
e) That this persecution is one of the five reasons specified in the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol (the threat of deprivation of life or physical freedom)
This meant that families like Za’s are not protected from deportation after their application has been refused. In order to remain in the EU asylum seekers must appeal the refusal based on four reasons;
a) They would have to fill for the asylum or Humanitarian Protection applications with an international protection claim.
b) They would have to appeal with a human rights claims.
c) They must decide to revoke refugee status or humanitarian protection
d) They must decide that they have no right to remain under European law.
Legislations
The government ensure children in the UK regardless of race, religion or nationality like Ruwa’s are protect and that it is everyone’s responsible to ensure the safeguarding of children they ensure this by laying down laws such as The Human right act ensures the right to freedom and the protection of harmful treatment.
The Children act, this act gives children hope and positive stability to achieve success. It makes sure that all children are well care for and ensure children are healthy and in a safe environment, and that they are having great fun and enjoying their childhood.
‘Every child matters’ is a legislation that ensure every child is given the support they require to be safe and healthy, it approaches to ensure the well-being of children and young people from age 0 to 19. There’s also the Immigration act that
children and families act, this act ensures children’s views, wishes and feelings are considered and protected and to ensure all their physical, emotional, educational and financial needs are met. Some negative impacts can come out of changing legislations, families can be affected financially and family problems may erupt from change such as couple’s arguments and domestic abuse. Some families may lose their homes and children can really be affected emotionally from the abuse and argument.
Statutory and Non-statutory support
Za and her family have been through many traumatic crises points. At a young age, Ruwa suffers from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and it did not help that she was social excluded by her peers in school, so she did not have anyone to talk to and this really affected her mentally.
Fortunately, the government as well as private companies make sure help is there for families like Ruwa’s. One example of a non-statutory support available for asylum seeking families is Barnardo’s, a children’s charity that help children with all kinds of crises from all across the UK and give them a chance to have a normal childhood because they believe being a child means having fun. Barnardo’s has a lot of support for families like Ruwa’s who are struggling with family problems they provide therapeutic help for not only children but parents of the children, they offer financial advice and general help on understanding the benefits that are available for them. If the parents don’t speak English Barnardo’s find interpreters to make communicating much easy for them. Barnardo’s also offer fostering services for children who flee to the UK alone and ensure they get health services, education and a lovely childhood.
A statutory support that is available for asylum seeking families is the National Asylum Support Service (NASS) which is a part of the UK Border Agency and was created in April 2000 under the Immigration and Nationality Act. They provide financial support to children and families like Za’s who are seeking asylum while their case is being reviewed, with permission of the immigration and asylum act 1999 the NASS also give accommodations to Families who were refused citizenship and are waiting to appeal.
Family Structures, Parenting Styles and religion
Nuclear families were not the norm for Za, women raising a child by themselves were unheard of in her culture and being an unemployed single mother could be what triggered Za’s depression and paranoia. There has been a drastic increase in family structures and there are various family types today such as;
• Nuclear family
• Single parent family
• Same-sex family
• Adoption family
• Reconstituted family
• Child-less family
• Grand-parent family
• Extended family
The number of single parent’s as shown in the graph have increased throughout the years. There are two million single-parents in the UK today, and they are most likely at risk of poverty than families with couple parent.
Being refused asylum could mean going back to the dangerous environment these families fled from. This is a huge crisis for children as it highly stresses parents and they not be able to keep the same parenting styles they had before. Baumrind, D., 1991 explains the four different types of parenting styles;
Authoritative is considered by many to be the ‘good’ parenting style as it promotes healthy development and helps in the building a positive personality, it usually consists of setting boundaries whilst still providing that warm and loving affection towards a child. Explaining why a child has been punished and listening to their side of an argument really helps them know that they are being listened to and that they have a choice.
Authoritarian or Disciplinarian parents are usually described to be controlling, they expect children to follow harsh rules and orders and they do not to explain reasons for the rules or the orders. They expect a lot form they’re children and barely give them any control, most religious parents sue this parenting style.
Permissive or Indulgent are interested in being the child’s friend they usually have no rules and let the children do whatever they want. These parents don’t guide they children they give them full control on everything, they are warm and nurturing with no boundaries and expectations.
Uninvolved parents are usually ignoring the child’s affectionate needs and approvals, they provide the basic needs a child requires however they constantly neglect the child emotionally, children with uninvolved parents are often unhappy and some might seek attention and approval from others such as teachers.
Za’s husband was quite religious, controlling and disciplinary with the children and Za was the permissive parent however coming to the UK she didn’t know how to raise them alone. Hence, she became an uninvolved parent and it was quite difficult to for her to develop an attachment with Yahi the youngest child. Za’s family religion was Islam and they believed it is during difficult crises that one should be patient because God was testing them, hence, in this case religion really helped them overcome their problematic situations by giving time and patience.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the numerous crises that families like Ruwa’s have been through has really impacted negatively on the children and family in many ways; financially socially, emotionally and mentally. Luckily there are rights that ensure asylum seeker’s safety and wellbeing is protected, there are also supports that are available for them to overcome their crises and deal with further issues to come. In this report, we outlined the different parenting styles that shaped a child’s personality and how being in a crisis impacted/caused the parents to change their parenting styles hence confusing children. Religion however impacted slightly positively as it gave religious families such as Ruwa’s hope that they would get through their challenging crisis points.