An Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Child is a PERSON.

An Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Child is a child who is applying for asylum in their own right and is separated from both parents and is not being cared for by an adult who by law has responsibility to do so.

A child may move between the unaccompanied and accompanied categories whilst their applications are under consideration, e.g.

• where a child arrives alone but is later united with other family members in the UK
• a child arrives with their parents or close relatives but is later abandoned
• a trafficked child
• one brought in on false papers with an adult claiming to be a relative.

All Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children are also Looked After Children. 

For further information on Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children, see the Home Office website.

This supporting information is also known by these names:

Context	Alias
shortname	UASC
plural	Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children