Separated children and young people represent about 10% of looked after children but a disproportionately high number go missing from their care homes. Fears of trafficking have been voiced. The matter was widely reported (December 2008 onwards), for example, by The Independent, the BBC, Children and Young People Now and Community Care. 

Six unaccompanied asylum seekers are claiming up to £300,000 in compensation for false imprisonment: they were held in detention on arrival in the UK because they had no documents to prove that they were under the age of the 18. An article (November 2008) can be read here. 

The government-sponsored Resource file for supporting asylum-seeker and refugee pupils (October 2008) details useful and relevant websites and provides an annotated bibliography of relevant publications, research, reports and classroom resources. The pdf can be downloaded here.

The Sound Of Silence: Listening to What Unaccompanied Asylum-seeking Children Say and Do Not Say is a study by Ravi K. S. Kohli, Reader in Social Work at Royal Holloway, University of London. He explores ways that separated children and young people are silent or circumspect about their origins and circumstances, and ways that authorities respond. The abstract can be read here.  

A 'return’ directive, approved by the European Parliament, will mainly affect adults but sets out safeguards for the return of unaccompanied children, prioritising ‘the best interests of the child’. The directive is expected to become law in 2010—except in the UK and Ireland: the British government does not believe the directive will make returning illegal immigrants any easier. An article (October 2008) can be read here.

Carrying out an undercover investigation, a female reporter discovered (October 2008) that some of the girls who have been 'trafficked' from China, in their teenage years and younger, are seeking asylum as separated children in the UK. The article can be read here.