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Anglican ‘Santa‘ barred from visiting kids at detainee center

When an Anglican expert on St Nicholas tried to spread some Christmas cheer at a detention center where children are being held in the United Kingdom, security guards called in police to escort him off the premises.

So writes Jamie Doward, Home Affairs Editor, in one of Britain's most serious newspapers, The Observer.

Doward says it started out as a well-intentioned attempt to bring festive cheer to some of society's most neglected members -- the hundreds of children who each year are caught up in the UK's asylum system.

"But when the Anglican church's leading expert on Father Christmas [Santa Claus], dressed as St Nicholas himself, arrived with one of Britain's most distinguished clerics to distribute presents to children held at the Yarl's Wood immigration removal center in Bedfordshire, things took a turn straight out of Dickens," says Doward.

Doward states that what ensured was not a festive sight.

"An unedifying standoff developed that saw the security personnel who guard the perimeter fence prevent St Nicholas, the patron saint of children and the imprisoned, from delivering £300GBP ($490USD) worth of presents donated by congregations of several London churches," Doward reports.

In a red robe and long white beard, clutching a bishop's miter and crook, St Nick -- in real life, the Rev Canon James Rosenthal, a world authority on St Nicholas of Myra, the inspiration for Father Christmas -- gently protested that he was not a security threat, but to no avail, Doward writes.

The newspaper says that then, as St Nicholas, accompanied by the Rev Professor Nicholas Sagovsky, canon theologian at Westminster Abbey, attempted to bless the gifts, the increasingly angry security guards called the police.

"The resulting ill-tempered and surreal impasse between church and state was videotaped by asylum seeker support groups and could become an internet viral hit," Doward writes.

Doward commented: "The row comes amid mounting concern about the treatment of children in immigration removal centers. Last week senior doctors called for an immediate end to the 'profoundly harmful' detention of children in immigration removal centers. In today's Observer [newspaper] a number of leading children's authors -- including Michael Morpurgo, Michael Bond and Philip Pullman -- have signed a letter calling for an end to child detention."

Rosenthal, who regularly appears alongside the Archbishop of Canterbury at festive parades, is the founder of the St Nicholas Society, which was set up to promote "interest, learning, and appreciation of the tradition of St Nicholas," Doward reports.

"St Nick has never been turned away from anywhere before," Rosenthal said.

"So I was extremely disappointed not to be able to hand deliver the gifts to the children detained at Yarl's Wood. I hope the kids realize that they will be firmly in my prayers."

According to the newspaper, The St Nicholas Society, along with Citizens for Sanctuary, which campaigns to end the detention of children and families in the asylum system, is writing to the center's management to complain at how it handled the pre-announced visit. They have complained about the heavy-handed tactics employed by the guards who patrol the perimeter fence and Serco, the private company that operates Yarl's Wood.

The newspaper says the two groups say that Serco refused requests to provide details about the 35 children in the center so they could receive appropriate presents. They complain that the company did not respond to numerous requests to discuss how a handover of presents could be carried out if St Nicholas was prevented from entering during his visit this month.

The newspaper goes on to say that Serco also refused permission for the two clerics to enter the center to visit two refugee families later the same day, as it had previously agreed. They were handed letters from Dawn Elaine, contracts manager at Yarl's Wood, saying permission had been revoked because of "concerns about your conduct."

It adds the minor row is threatening to escalate into a bigger furor over the government's policy of keeping children in Immigration Removal Centers.

"If this is how visitors are treated, I shudder to imagine what else transpires inside Yarl's Wood," Rosenthal said.

Sagovsky added: "This was about bringing a moment of joy to kids locked up in a deplorable situation. I can't help but contrast the smiles and wonderment on the faces of the children St Nicholas visited at a local primary school with the sad fate of those kids who will be locked up in Yarl's Wood over Christmas."

The newspaper says it is estimated that 1,000 children are detained every year.

Last week the Royal Colleges of Paediatrics and Child Health, alongside leading GPs [General Practitioners], psychiatrists and the UK Faculty of Public Health, warned the detention of children and their families caused "significant harm" and should be ended without delay.

The newspaper quotes Dr Philip Collins, a forensic adolescent psychiatrist at the South London and Maudsley NHS [National Health Service] Foundation Trust, who said children of asylum seekers were "uniquely at risk" of "very high levels" of mental health problems.

According to the newspaper, the organization Medical Justice said it had seen more than 100 children in Yarl's Wood Immigration Removal Center, and shared the doctors' concerns. The organization's clinical director, Dr Frank Arnold, said: "Our findings accord exactly with those of the royal colleges."

The newspaper goes on to report that Arnold states: "Over the years, when challenged, the response of UK Borders Agency (UKBA), and the private company it subcontracts healthcare to, have ranged from pleading ignorance, to painting walls a different color, to publishing a vast number of documents, which prove meaningless because the health outcomes for children seem no better, and remain frightening."

The newspaper report says that a spokesman for Serco referred questions to the Home Office, which insists only people subject to stringent security checks can be allowed into the detention center and there can be no exceptions.

"However," writes Doward, "it seems even the Home Office is keen to avoid being labeled 'Scrooge.' "

Alan Kittle, Director of Detention Services for the UK Border Agency said: "UKBA already has procedures in place to ensure any children held in detention over the Christmas period receive a present and get to see Santa."

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TAGS: United Kingdom Anglican ‘Santa‘ kids at detainee center Yarl's Wood immigration removal center Rev Canon James Rosenthal

[12/16/2009]

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