Member

The view of experts on the ground who support these children is that misidentification of children as adults poses a greater safeguarding risk than misidentification of adults as children. There are no safeguards in adult systems because children are not expected to be there. When they are, they are left vulnerable to abuse and exploitation. In contrast, child systems have robust protections in place that can be triggered when a young adult enters this environment. We need to remember that these are not comparable scenarios, since children in adult systems face significantly greater risks. The amendments that I and my colleagues are proposing aim to close this serious safeguarding gap.