Children as young as six have arrived alone in Britain to claim asylum, council chiefs said yesterday as they warned of cultural issues around how some migrants treat women.
The council leaders also highlighted concern in the asylum system over the potential for child-smuggling and the sexual exploitation of schoolchildren by adults who claim to be children.
Peers were told that 870 unaccompanied child asylum seekers were being looked after by Kent county council, of whom 305 were Eritreans and almost 200 Afghans.
The south London borough of Croydon is looking after 433 children, of whom 213 are Albanians.
Andrew Ireland, corporate director of social care, health and wellbeing at Kent county council, questioned what child protection efforts were taking place in the rest of