CADFA trustees’ statement on youth visit safeguarding and asylum issue April 2025
This issue arose during a youth visit when we were told by the young people visiting that they were repeatedly being met in public meetings by people speaking in Arabic asking them if they were having a good time and suggesting they should throw away their passports and stay in the UK and claim asylum.
We don’t know if this came from people who cared about the children and were thinking of the terrible and worrying situation in Palestine or if this came from people making mischief or seeking to do harm.
Following this series of incidents we have reviewed our safeguarding practices particularly on care of the young people in public places and we are issuing this public statement in advance of future visits.
A main part of CADFA’s current work is to organise safe children’s visits from Palestine.
The purpose is an exchange with people in the UK which leads to a raising of awareness in the UK of the human rights situation in Palestine and, we hope, to campaigns and activity to protect all Palestinian children. Our Palestinian friends and previous visitors also emphasise what a wonderful opportunity this is for the young people who take part.
The young visitors have leaders with them from Palestine who are in loco parentis and who have a duty to bring the children safely back to their families.
CADFA also has a safeguarding policy which aims to keep the children safe and a responsibility to their parents and guardians.
CADFA also take care of our own reputation and the future of the work we do – of which we are proud. This depends on having the trust of young people’s families in Palestine (who expect us to bring their children home) and also in getting visas for the young people to visit (which will stop if our visitors don’t return).
So we put people around us on notice: we are aware of the appalling pressures on all Palestinians in Palestine. The work we do to combat this is through awareness raising. We are not bringing the young people here to stay here.
We want people to care about the future of Palestinian children and welcome discussions with people who are concerned and want to help with our work. Any thoughts or suggestions by adults about the particular children who come on our visits must be referred to the adults in charge.
Our young visitors come with the group, stay with the group and return with the group like the hundreds of young visitors who have come with us before. We look after our young visitors carefully and keep them away from people who want to remove them from their families.