CAROLINE BAUM reports on a charity program that has seen 12,000 British citizens put up their hands to take in Ukrainian families fleeing the Russian invasion and help them make a new start. 

When the war in Ukraine began, more than 100,000 Britons promptly signed up to their government’s Homes for Ukraine program, of whom 12,000 followed up with Refugees At Home charity. It was a positive demonstration of concern from a country that is increasingly harsh in its immigration policy. But in this instance, the humanitarian principle prevailed – just as it did during World War II, when Kindertransport saved the lives of thousands of unaccompanied children.

That lineage persists: one of Refugees at Home’s Patrons is Lord Dubs, who came to the UK on Kindertransport from the former Czechoslovakia aged six and has been a figurehead of safe passage for unaccompanied minors as a Labour MP and peer.

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