Two children, nine and six, arrived in UK alone after mother fell overboard and father tried to rescue her. The court of appeal has ruled that a couple who were separated from their two young children on a migrant dinghy near northern France after the mother fell overboard cannot travel to the UK to be reunited with them.
The Kurdish family, including two children aged nine and six, boarded a dinghy near Calais on 19 July, hoping to cross the Channel to the UK to claim asylum after saying they had faced persecution in Turkey. A fight broke out on the overcrowded boat and the mother fell overboard. The father followed his wife into the water to try to rescue her. But before the couple could get back into the boat, the smugglers pushed it out to sea with the two children onboard.
On arrival in the UK, the children were taken into the care of Kent county council and placed with foster carers. Inquires were made and several days later the parents made contact with their children by video call. The parents launched a legal challenge in the hope of securing the right to come to the UK legally to reunite with their children. A judge in the immigration tribunal ruled that the parents should be allowed to do this and that the separation from their parents was causing the children “distress and psychological damage”.
