Home Office questions why Syrian refugee, 11, can’t return to war zone to be with mum

Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy An 11-year-old Syrian girl with severe mental health issues is being kept apart from her mother as a result of Home Office delays that are “putting her life at risk”. Every day that passes without a positive decision furthers our client’s trauma and places great strain on the lives of her caregivers in the UK.” Every day that passes without a positive decision furthers our client’s trauma Nick O’Loughnan, Wilson Solicitors LLP The girl’s 28-year-old brother, who lives with his sister and his family in Wembley, said: “My sister is not eating. All the tablets and medicines we hide as well.” Medical evidence submitted to the Home Office by the girl’s mental health team details how she is “hopeless about ever being reunited with her mother and/or feeling ‘better’, and she is also reporting that she wants to die”. The Home Office said: “The refugee family reunion visa route allows those with protected status in the UK to sponsor their partner, children under 18, or children over 18 with exceptional dependency to join them here.