London: Delays by the UK Home Office in reuniting an 11-year-old Syrian girl with severe mental health issues with her mother are "putting her life in danger," according to experts who are providing support and working to reunite the family.
The girl arrived in the UK in 2021 to join her 28-year-old brother from Al-Harah in southern Syria. According to the family, her mother was imprisoned by Syrian authorities in September 2020 after army officers accused her of unauthorised phone filming.
Relatives were later informed that the women were killed in a prison bombing. It was later revealed that she was alive, but by then the girl had travelled to the United Kingdom. The mother was released from prison in February 2022, and the family applied for a family reunion visa in September, allowing her to join her children in the United Kingdom.
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The Home Office is expected to rule on such applications within three months. The family, however, has been waiting for more than four and a half months, and authorities have requested additional evidence to explain why the girl cannot return to the war-torn country and be reunited with her mother.
The girl's mental health professionals have submitted medical evidence to the Home Office stating that she feels "hopeless about ever being reunited with her mother and/or feeling 'better,' and she is also reporting that she wants to die."
"She presents as broadly mute, tearful, tense...," they continued. She usually sits with her fists over her mouth, picking at her hands' skin until she bleeds. She has stated that her only desire is to be reunited with her mother, that she is emotionally and physically exhausted, and that she has had suicidal thoughts, which she has carried out."
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According to a family therapist, the girl's brother quit his job on the advice of mental health professionals so that he could supervise his sister and keep her from harming herself. They emphasised the significant impact this has had on his family life, as he is responsible for several special-needs children.
According to the therapist, the brother would struggle to provide his sister with the long-term care she requires.
"I am deeply concerned that the Home Office is questioning why this extremely vulnerable and traumatised young girl cannot return to a war zone," said Nick O'Loughnan, a solicitor acting on her behalf.
In the United Kingdom, the secretary of state has a statutory duty to protect and promote the welfare of children. This is clearly a complete breach of duty, in my opinion.
"The delay in the outcome is affecting our client's mental health so severely that it is placing her life at risk. Every day that goes by without a positive decision adds to our client's trauma and puts a strain on her carers' lives in the UK."
The UK government allows a parent to apply for a family reunion visa so that a spouse or children under the age of 18 can accompany them, but children cannot apply for a parent's visa in the same way.
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Instead, they must file a "leave outside the rules" application with the Home Office, requesting that the Home Office grant permission for a migrant to enter the country due to exceptional circumstances.
Family rights are enshrined in international human rights law, and the UN Refugee Agency has emphasised the importance of family reunification in efforts to care for child refugees.
According to a Home Office spokesperson, the mother's visa application is being actively considered, "with the well-being of those involved central to decision-makers' thinking."