Thankyou very much to the Interact Club at the Heathcote School in Hertfordshire for the £178.62 they raised through having a non uniform day and a bake sale.

Red Cross report on family reunion

Last year we were interviewed for some research the Red Cross was doing and they have now completed the report with their findings.

Some of the key issues were found to be that refugees struggled to get information or support with applying for family reunion. That funding the documentation needed as well as the travel for successful applicants meant that people would go without food to save up or had been borrowing from people who subsequently threatened their family when they couldn't pay.

I wouldn't have been able to pay. I had no place to sleep, nothing to eat so I could not pay the bill of a solicitor.... The people in a refugee situation, they cannot afford to pay a lawyer's bill.

You can read our summary of the report on our website here and we hope to be able to bring you a copy of the full report. Our thanks to the Red Cross for allowing us to reproduce their findings.