MORE unaccompanied children were seeking asylum in York in 2022 than the year before, figures show.

Data from the Department for Education show eight lone asylum-seeking children were in care in York on March 31, 2022, compared to none the year before.

The Children's Society said that children often arrive in the UK after being separated from their parents, some may have been trafficked into the UK, and it is "crucial" that the Government provides local authorities with the funding and resources necessary to care for them.

Rachael Maskell, MP for York Central, said: "Over 220 unaccompanied young people seeking asylum have gone missing from hotels since arriving in the UK. This shows a serious failure in safeguarding.

"It is unknown if these young people have gone to stay with distant family members or been taken into modern slavery or exploitation, it is deeply troubling.

"Unaccompanied children should not be placed in hotels and instead be taken into the trusted care of recognised guardians until a suitable, more permanent, match is found.

"These children need to be immediately integrated into the education services and provided additional support where needed to address any trauma that they have faced.

"It is important in York to have families ready to welcome asylum seeking children into their homes, not least now that York is receiving families as they wait for their claims to be processed, seriously delayed by Home Office failure.

"Some children are orphaned, others will have family overseas. Once their family situation is established, greater efforts must be made to unite families.”

At the end of March, 3,257 children were being looked after by City of York Council, with 205 placed in foster care.

Danielle Johnson, director of safeguarding (children), City of York Council, said: “Unaccompanied young people become children in care and live with foster carers or within other appropriate accommodation depending on their needs and is allocated a social worker to co-ordinate their care.

“We support them to engage in education provision and help them to learn English – if they don’t already speak the language – using translation services when needed.

“The young people we care for have experienced trauma and may not in contact with their families, so we also help them to adjust to living in England, as well as meeting any cultural needs.

“We work closely alongside Migration Yorkshire to support unaccompanied young people, as part of the National Transfer Scheme. As a result we have seen an increase in the number of young people we care for and are likely to see a further increase going forward."

Across the UK, there were 5,570 unaccompanied asylum seeking children in the care of local authories at the end of March, the largest number since records began in 2004, and up 34 per cent on the year before.