Children's champion

This page explains the responsibilities of the children's champion in the Home Office.

The Home Office has a 'children's champion', who is responsible for:

• promoting in the Home Office the duty (in section 55 of the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009) to have regard to the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children in the UK when carrying out immigration, asylum, nationality and customs functions;
• offering advice and support to staff on issues related to children; and
• identifying and escalating issues of concern.

The current children's champion is Emma Churchill.

Emma is supported in this role by our office of the children's champion, which includes 2 social workers who act as professional child welfare advisers.

The office of the children's champion:

• supports business areas in their arrangements for implementing section 55;
• is the Home Office's lead for the independent family returns panel;
• manages training on keeping children safe;
• provides professional child welfare advice to the business on both a case-by-case and a policy basis; and
• seeks to promote a change in the Home Office's culture in respect of dealings with children.