As the world experienced covid, this docu-animation powerfully brings to life the unique experiences of children and young people whose lives were put on hold in the asylum system, and the profound legacies it has on their lives. The young people carried out participatory research with a team from University College London, University of Southampton, and University of Liverpool, ultimately making this documentary of their Lives On Hold: Our Stories Told (LOHST). The young people and researchers gathered accounts from children and young people as well as practitioners showing how Covid has compounded some of the fundamental systemic issues in the asylum system and reveals some of the strategies they use to survive and overcome them with the aim of improving the system for other children and young people.

This animation was co-produced with young people who came to the UK as unaccompanied asylum seeking children. They asked researchers to help them show the effects of covid on their lives. These are their stories, their images and their words, spoken by actors.