Help for young refugees and asylum seekers

If you are a young refugee, asylum seeker or vulnerable migrant aged 15 to 25, you may be able to get help from the British Red Cross.

The Red Cross offers a range of services for young refugees and teenagers or young adults seeking asylum aged 15 to 25.

Depending on your needs and where you are in the UK, we may be able to help you. Our young refugee service includes support with things like understanding age assessments. We also provide important information on education and healthcare for refugees and asylum seekers, as well as general advice on settling into life in the UK.

Our young refugees service works in:

 

If you are a young refugee somewhere else in the UK and need help, you can contact your nearest Red Cross refugee service. We may be able to put you in touch with another organisation that can support you.

We offer help online if you are from:

You can also get help if you are a refugee, asylum seeker or vulnerable migrant over 25 years old.

How our young refugee service works

To get our help:

  • You can contact us yourself by phone or email using the contact details above.
  • Someone else can contact us for you, like a foster parent or social services.

Read: how to support young refugees, by British Red Cross head of psychosocial support, Sarah Davidson

Zeynep, a young refugee from Kurdistan, volunteers with her local British Red Cross refugee service.

Get help with your rights and responsibilities in the UK

We can help you:

  • claim asylum or find out more about how to do it
  • understand what you are entitled to, including refugee education and healthcare
  • understand how age assessments work.

Help settling into life in the UK

Our projects can help you learn about life in the UK. For example, we may be able to support you with:

  • getting the healthcare you need
  • accessing social care support
  • starting your education in the UK
  • building confidence
  • gaining skills to get a job.

Speak out on refugee issues

The Red Cross also runs the VOICES network, a collective of refugees and people seeking asylum. As experts by experience, VOICES ambassadors have spoken to MPs, other government officials, the media and the public.

Many young people take part and speak out on issues that affect them and other refugees.

 

Find out more from VOICES ambassadors in their own words:

Find missing family

The Red Cross offers help in finding missing family and relatives abroad through our international family tracing service.

You can use the family tracing service if you have been separated by war, natural disaster or migration.

Looking for family in Afghanistan

In some cases, the Red Cross can also help with family reunion.

Specialist support for young refugees and asylum seekers

  • For children’s psychotherapeutic support please visit the Refugee Council’s MyView Children’s Therapy service website.
  • For child safeguarding concerns please contact your local authority’s children’s social care safeguarding hub.
  • For legal advice please visit the Law Society’s website.

 

Surviving to Thriving project

The Surviving to Thriving project supported refugees and asylum seekers aged 11 to 25 in Birmingham, Leeds and Peterborough who didn't have parents or guardians in the UK. 

To learn more about what the project and what it has achieved, please download our impact report. You can also watch 16 incredible short films made by the young people about their experiences.

How to give help

We couldn’t run this free and unique service without the support of our committed staff, volunteers and the people who generously donate to us.

Refugees avail project peer educator

Volunteer with refugees

Find out how you can make a difference to refugees as a volunteer.

Find out about volunteering near you
Two British Red Cross refugee services workers offer a child's winter jacket to someone outside of the picture

Work with refugees

From helping new arrivals to reuniting refugee families, we have a range of interesting career opportunities. 

Find out about jobs with refugees
A man and woman wearing masks and rubber gloves touch elbows in a British Red Cross refugee centre, surrounded by food supplies and boxes.

Get ideas on how you can help refugees

We're the UK's largest provider of refugee services - find out how you can help.

How we help refugees
A young woman Turkey Red Cross worker holds a child in a tent city for people who lost their homes in the Turkey-Syria earthquake.

Make a donation

Donate to wherever the need is greatest, or donate to a cause close to your heart. 

Donate to the Red Cross