14/07/2026
I’m delighted to share that the Refugee Council has officially endorsed the Social Work Age Estimation Framework (SAEF®).
As many people know, this has been a project that has occupied many evenings, weekends and early mornings over the past two years, driven by my absolute belief that age assessments are just social work assessments and, like all other assessments, we deserve a framework that supports us to do this work fairly, ethically and in line with our social work values. Even more importantly young people deserve a consistent, fair and trauma informed approach to age assessment.
SAEF® isn’t a training course; it’s a methodology designed to support practitioners to gather, analyse and weigh evidence in a transparent, evidence-informed and child-centred way.
I’m incredibly grateful to the Refugee Council for recognising the work that’s gone into developing SAEF®, and for their commitment to promoting fair, trauma-informed and rights-respecting practice.
As part of the endorsement process, a group of young people with lived experience of age assessment had to agree it. They listened to my presentation and provided honest, meaningful and insightful feedback and for that I will be forever grateful.
Although the endorsement from the Refugee Council is pretty cool (eek!) that young people with lived experience of age disputes described SAEF® as helping them feel safer, fairer and more respected was all the endorsement I needed.
There is still much more to do. Age assessment remains one of the most challenging and scrutinised areas of social work, and no single framework has all the answers.
But I hope SAEF® continues to support practitioners to make thoughtful, defensible decisions while keeping children’s rights and welfare at the heart of practice.
A huge thank you to everyone who has contributed to the development of SAEF® over the past two years—social workers, managers, legal professionals, partner organisations and, most importantly, the young people whose experiences have helped shape the methodology.
If you’d like to read the Refugee Council’s announcement, you’ll find the link in my bio.
