How will the study be conducted?

We have collected medical information from over 500 age disputed refugees from Afghanistan and a similar number of Kurdish refugees.  We also have information on smaller groups of young people from other parts of the world.

We need to collect similar information from a control group of people in order to have a standard against which to compare young people who need our help.

The study is in two parts:-

A. We will collect medical information from adults and children with respect to growth and development.

Most of this information will be collected by answering a simple questionnaire and you will be able to fill in a form on the internet, on the phone, or face to face in an interview - at your convenience.

The form will include simple questions like 'Have you had any health problems?' ; 'Do you remember when you got your back (Wisdom) teeth?  Just answer as many as you can and all the information you give is completely confidential.

We would also like to record some simple data - such as measure your height and weight and waist measurements.

B. Control group of age assessments.  This is a 'double blind' trial of our age assessment methods.

For this part of the study we need to see children and young people who do know their ages. Some may have been born in Europe, some may have travelled with their parents and some may have family members here who can tell us their ages or have other proof of age.

The information about their ages or date of birth is given to one of our researchers and kept confidential.

The doctor then sees the child or young person and makes an assessment of their age without knowing this information.

Later the age assessed by the doctor is compared to that stated by the individual and this gives us information on which to evaluate the doctor's technique.

This is very important information which has been asked for in many court cases. If you are able to help in this study it will have major impact on the future of young refugees and unaccompanied asylum seeking minors.

Use Contact Form to join the study. .

NEW - A very important STUDY which we invite you to help with.