Children's champion

This page explains the responsibilities of the children's champion in the UK Border Agency.

The UK Border Agency has a 'children's champion', who is responsible for:

• promoting in the UK Border Agency 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;
• offering advice and support to staff on issues related to children; and
• identifying and escalating issues of concern.

The current children's champion is senior member of staff, Lisa Killham.

Lisa is supported in this role by our office of the children's champion, which includes 2 professional child welfare advisers seconded to the agency from local authority children's services departments. The office of the children's champion is part of our customer service improvement directorate.

The office of the children's champion:

• leads overarching policy on section 55 of the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009 and safeguarding children generally;
• is the UK Border Agency's lead for the independent family returns panel;
• manages training on keeping children safe;
• provides professional childcare advice to us on both a case-by-case and a policy basis; and
• seeks to promote a change in the UK Border Agency's culture in respect of dealings with children.