Its Refugee Week.

Here is a summary of our work supporting refugees in Lewisham and other areas in London.

In Croydon, we deliver the Asylum Childcare Project Creche, which is a bespoke crèche facility for the UK Visa and Immigration Service, from the Early Years Alliance, providing excellent care for children under 5, while their parents undergo a Home Office Visa interview on the Home Office Premises in Lunar House in Croydon.
The crèche on-site is a full-day service provided by qualified and experienced staff from the Croydon Staff team, which ensures parents can complete their interview, knowing their children are safe and cared for nearby, enjoying high-quality play opportunities.

The core aim of this crèche service is to ensure that young children are not exposed to distressing information, and that parents are able to have honest and sometimes difficult conversations with the Home Office Interviewer without worrying about upsetting their children or causing any further emotional trauma to them.

In the City of London, we are providing an on-site creche for refugee families who are housed in a hotel, for babies and infants, while their parents attend ESOL 3 classes as part of the City of London’s support package for refugees. This is
delivered by qualified and experienced staff.

In Lewisham, we are working with refugee families based in the borough. Story Sack workshops are provided on site for families by the Outreach team, and they also offer the families clothes toys and other resources. We are also in conversation with Horniman’s about joint delivery at the centre later in the year.
The Family Practitioners have also been providing 1:1 support for some of the families, and have facilitated drop-in sessions, which includes providing Oyster cards to enable the families to get there easily and without additional cost.
We are part of a Community Partnership forum – Working together to develop services for refugees in Lewisham, and we have also worked with the Refugee Council based at the Albany regarding access to universal services and support, linked them to Outreach /Triple P for a cohort of parents for support on behaviour.