Age Assessment Procedure
1. Introduction: When to Assess
An Age Assessment is a holistic assessment of an individual taking into account self report of their background and family, observations of their behaviour and development, and information held by other agencies to reach a judgement about their likely age.
The age stated by an undocumented young person will normally be accepted, but in cases where there is a strong suggestion that the stated age may be incorrect, an age assessment should be carried out.
Where the Home Office believe that an individual's appearance strongly suggests they are over 18, they may issue an IS97M document stating this. In these situations they should not refer the person to Children's social work services for support, however they should inform the asylum applicant of their entitlement to request an age assessment, and where the local connection (the place the person first encountered government officials - i.e. police, immigration, social work services) is in Solihull, Solihull CSWS will undertake an assessment if requested.
The decision to assess a young person who has been accepted into Local Authority care may be made as a result of information arising at any stage of their care process. It is however preferable for any adjustment of age to be done early in a care episode, in particular within the first 28 days for someone who may be adult, and in any event before their asylum decision is issued.
For this reason, the initial single social work assessment should actively consider and remark on whether an age assessment is required. On occasion, repeat age assessments may be required in response to new, significant information coming to light after the conclusion of an earlier assessment.
Where the request to assess age is made by another agency, for example Home Office caseworker, carer or school, they will be asked to provide reasons for their concern. This should normally include information in addition to their physical appearance, and should be provided in writing. The referrer should be made aware that this information could form part of any subsequent assessment.
There are occasions where there is serious concern about a person's age at the time of referral from either the Home Office and/or the duty social worker. If at this first meeting the duty social worker(s) concludes that the evidence strongly suggests that the person concerned is significantly over 18, they should first consult the duty social work manager. Once the decision has been agreed, the social worker should inform the Home Office, the person and clearly record this.
2. Assessment Process
The young person's case-owner and solicitor should be informed by the allocated worker that an assessment is being undertaken.
The assessment will be allocated to two social workers and a supervising manager. Social workers-in -training may undertake age assessments, co-working with an experienced social worker and working under the supervision of their work based supervisor. At allocation a supervision discussion will be held at which the roles of the social workers will be agreed (who will lead the interviews, who will draft report, etc,), and sources of potential information will be discussed. A timescale for completion and implementation will be agreed. This may need to be as little as 2 weeks for a possible adult, and will normally be within 35 working days. Social workers are expected to regard age assessments as high priority work because timely completion is important for both the young person and their Care Plan, and relevant agencies and placement providers/carers.
Before the assessment is begun a visit should be made to the young person by the allocated worker to explain that an assessment will be undertaken, and what it will involve. This should be recorded in Care First under the 'Age assessment' heading. Wherever possible, written information should be provided to the young person in their first language, and information provided to the foster carer and/or accommodation provider.
The young person being assessed should be offered the support of an advocate or another suitable independent adult to be present at assessment interviews in the role of an 'appropriate adult', and to assist with challenging the outcome of the assessment if required. If the young person declines an appropriate adult this should be recorded in Care First under the heading 'age assessment' as failure to offer an appropriate adult could be grounds for a legal challenge of the assessment. The Association of Directors of Children's Services (ADCS) has developed Good Practice Guidelines including a Consent Form which must be shared with the young person and signed as appropriate. (see Appendix 1: Good Practice Documents ADCS).
The assessment itself will normally include at least one interview, with suitable face to face interpreting as required. Observations should be sought from other relevant professionals, including carers and education providers, the allocated worker, if not undertaking the age assessment. Health professionals, including the professional undertaking the LAC health assessment and the dentist should be asked for their professional view.
The presence of several fully erupted wisdom teeth could suggest that the person concerned is older than 18 however there is counter research suggesting that the reliability of dental information to accurately determine age is flawed. The evidence base for these views are included in appendix 2. Whilst information with regard to wisdom teeth should be taken into consideration in determining age, this needs to be viewed in the light of any other information gathered during the course of the assessment.
Further interviews may be needed to clarify omissions or discrepancies in the information. If doubts have developed about the person's credibility this should be put to them, and they should be given the opportunity to respond. By the time the completed assessment report is shared, the person being assessed should be aware of any issues which appear to cast doubt over their claimed age and have had the chance to discuss them with the assessing social workers. The assessment report should show clearly that issues of credibility have been discussed in this way.
If documents are made available, the Home Office and/or the child's solicitor may be able to assist with deciding if they are genuine. It is also necessary to decide how useful they are in verifying age, for example if they were issued without production of a valid birth certificate, they do not prove age better than any other kind of self report.
A further joint supervision meeting will be held to discuss the draft report, and agree the conclusion and any amendments. There should also be a discussion about how to present the report to the young person. Depending on their language and literacy skills and whether or not the assessment changes their date of birth, this could include a brief summary of the assessment report, a full translation, or a translation read onto CD.
At this stage, if the conclusion is that the person being assessed is over 18, the allocated worker should alert the Home Office case-owner and begin negotiations for adult accommodation.
The report should be signed by both social workers and the supervising manager, and countersigned by the person being assessed to indicate they have had the contents shared with them.
The social workers should ensure that when the assessment is shared, information is given about challenging the assessment. If the young person is not happy with the assessed age then this challenge should be done via their solicitor. If the complaint is about the process then this can be done either through the complaints procedure. Where it is expected to continue giving a service to the young person, implementing the assessed age can be deferred for up to two weeks to allow time for representations to be made and considered. Where the assessment concludes that the person is an adult, and should never have received a Children Act service, the assessed age should be implemented as quickly as is practical. This however should allow for appropriate transfer arrangements to be made to adult provision so that the move can take place in a planned and supportive way. It would not be realistic however to expect foster carers to keep someone assessed to be adult in placement longer than 24 hours after the assessment conclusion is shared. Representations and additional evidence must still be considered, but the person should be supported as an adult in the interim.
Where the subject of an age assessment is in an external foster placement and the outcome will result in the termination of the placement, the External Placements Management Team should be alerted and agreement sought about how and when to give notice, in order to mitigate avoidable costs where possible. Similar consideration needs to be given to serving notice with providers of supported accommodation.
3. Concluding the Assessment
Whether or not the assessment results in a change of date of birth, the 'Age assessment Outcome' form should be completed by the allocated worker. The form should be saved in young person's record. A second copy may be retained for up to 2 years in an age assessment folder for audit and learning purposes. This form requires an 'implementation date' to be recorded. This is the date any change in age will be acted on; it may be different from the date the assessment is 'signed off'.
Where the date of birth is changed, on receipt of the Age Assessment Outcome form, the social worker should complete a Notification of Change, amend Care First and create a 'life event'. The allocated worker should also consider whether there are other documents which need to be returned for re-issue. This could include a vignette (asylum papers) national insurance card and medical card.
The full, final report should be given to the person being assessed and any advocate, and may be given to the solicitor. The decision should be notified to the Home Office case-owner by the assessing social workers, using the 'Information Sharing Protocol' document. This is available on the ADCS Good Practice website. This includes the social workers' experience and training and a summary of the information considered in the assessment. This document may be submitted to an Immigration Tribunal as evidence in support of Home Office's adoption of the assessed date of birth.
4. Representations and Complaints Received After the Assessment has Been Signed Off
The assessment process, including the early participation of an advocate, should allow the person being assessed to take part, clarify misconceptions and explain apparent inconsistencies or concerns about credibility. At the time the report is signed off, the social workers and supervising manager should be satisfied that all relevant information was carefully considered. If complaints or representations are received after the process is complete a decision will need to be taken as to whether to continue to give a service, or withdraw services, as indicated by the assessment, while the complaint is investigated.
Additional information not available at the time of the assessment is sometimes provided to support a complaint. This can include paediatric assessment or the decision of an Asylum and Immigration Tribunal. Such evidence should be considered and if a decision is taken not to use it, this should be recorded.
Appendix 1: Good Practice Documents ADCS
Appendix 2: Research Investigating the Use of Wisdom Teeth (third molar) Eruption in Age Assessment
Nuzzoles, E and Di Vella, G (2008) Forensic dental investigations and age assessment of asylum seekers. Bari, Italy.
Olze, A; van Nierkerk, T; Zhu,B; Schulz, R; Maeda, H and Schmeling, A (2007) Comparative study on the effect of ethnicity in wisdom tooth eruption. International Journal of Legal Medicine, 121: 445-448 downloaded from on 25-11-2009.
Olze, A; van Niekerk, P; Schulz, R and Schmeling, A (2007) Studies of Chronological Courses of Wisdom Tooth Eruption in a Black African Population.
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