Stop the Home Office abandoning unaccompanied children in hotels

Hundreds of children have gone missing from hotels being overseen by the Home Office. Vulnerable young people put at risk of trafficking and exploitation through a “rogue system”. We first blew the whistle on this appalling practice in 2021 when it first transpired that children were being placed in hotels illegally, and that in doing so, children separated were being put at risk, with hundreds going missing. Sadly, it is not new, and indeed is a continuation of a prior policy using private contractors. Operating outside of the law, the Home Office has, in effect, set up a “rogue system” putting young people who have arrived from overseas at increased risk of exploitation and trafficking.