There is space for lone refugee children in Britain, but the government isn’t trying to find it

Britain has a proud tradition of stepping up to meet the needs of refugee children. In 1938, it welcomed the first Kindertransport, a scheme that went on to rescue thousands of children from the Nazis, and in the 1970s people came forward to foster and adopt the orphaned children of the Vietnamese boat people. The current government is threatening this tradition by effectively tearing up the Dubs Amendment – which aimed to help unaccompanied minors in France come to the UK – and closing the child refugee scheme.