Arsenal Foundation backs charity for separated children

The Arsenal Foundation has helped fund The Separated Child Foundation, a charity that supports young people who arrive in the UK without their families to rebuild their lives. Chief executive Hannah Williams described the charity's work.

The charity was founded in 2007, with all work carried out by volunteers until 2019, when its first staff member was appointed. Volunteers remain essential, from trustees to the hundreds of people who join its packing project every year. Thanks to them and to donors and grant-makers, more than 47,000 welcome packs have been given out to unaccompanied asylum-seeking children.

The packs include essentials such as clothing and toiletries, along with items such as night lights and stress balls to help children sleep. The charity has also welcomed thousands of young people to Club Class, its weekly educational youth club, which offers the chance to practise English, build relationships and learn about life in the UK.

Williams described one Club Class member who came to the UK from Afghanistan at 13. He built a strong relationship with his foster family, but his asylum application took two years to be approved, a period she said was uncertain and sadly not unusual. He joined Club Class at 15 to improve his English and has taken part in most weekly sessions over the past three years, along with multiple trips and activities.

Club Class also gave him an opportunity to think about his future, and he is due to start a college course in September. He loves London, and a Club Class trip to the city a couple of years ago was a real highlight. Williams said that, with the right support at the right time, he has turned his aspirations into action.

Williams said funding is one of the charity's greatest challenges, and that charities working with refugees and asylum seekers face an especially difficult time because of ever-changing government policy and increasingly toxic rhetoric. Club Class had to be paused temporarily for everyone's safety during the riots in the summer of 2024.

She said there was also an extraordinary wave of compassion across the country, with ordinary people saying they support refugees. Williams said football clubs have a huge role to play as role models and changemakers, noting that around 40 per cent of children and teenagers play football either casually or in local teams.

The Arsenal Foundation's support, she said, has enabled the charity to directly improve things for separated children rebuilding their lives in north London. More information or donations are available at separatedchild.org.