The founder of a Christian charity promoting adoption in the Church has said it is "really disappointing" that the government has changed its position on child refugees.

In the Commons last week, the government controversially removed a clause supporting child refugees from the EU Withdrawal Bill.

The clause would have enabled unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in Europe to be reunited with a family member in the UK.

Over 125,000 people have signed a petition protesting against the decision.

Krish Kandiah, founder of Home for Good, said that the UK should be a place of welcome for child refugees.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4, he said: "Surely as a nation we want to be hospitable and the children have already had just awful journeys, awful experiences.

"If they have the opportunity to be reunited with their family, that's a good thing, so it's very disappointing that we've removed that provision."

The criticism comes as the charity launches a pilot scheme to find homes for unaccompanied child asylum-seekers.

The Families of Refuge project has launched in three local authorities initially - Bristol City Council, Wiltshire Council and the London Borough of Lewisham.

The project invites those with a spare bedroom to consider opening up their home to support a vulnerable young person and become a 'family of refuge' host through their local authority.

According to government statistics, there are over 5,000 unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in England's care system. Some 85 per cent of them are aged 16 or 17 and 90 per cent of them are male.

The pilot project will work with 20 families to begin with, looking for homes primarily for youngsters aged 16 or 17, the majority of whom are expected to be male.

The families will be approved through the local authority and receive some financial support to take in the young person.

If successful, it is hoped that the project will eventually be expanded to save more young people from the hardship of living in refugee camps.

Dr Kandiah said: "Right now, there are children in refugee camps in Europe who are legally entitled to come to the UK but are unable to do so because there are not enough families in the system who can provide them with a safe and loving home.

"These young people have had horrendous experiences in their home countries, have fled war and persecution, made treacherous journeys and now need a family who can offer them the safety and support that they need."

"This new project provides a way for those who have been concerned about the plight of asylum-seekers to make a real difference in the life of a child in need of a loving home.

"For many years, people have been signing petitions calling on the government to do more, giving financially to refugee charities, sending donations or even visiting camps overseas and doing all that they can to support refugees and asylum seekers but now there is a new way of helping, by joining this pilot and becoming one of our first twenty families of refuge."

Last week, a report in The Observer claimed that the Home Office was ignoring offers from local authorities to take in more children.

Dr Kandiah said that many local authorities he had worked with did have the will to house more refugee children but were often hindered in their efforts by a lack of adequate funding.

"One of the key issues is that there is insufficient funding to go out and find more families who can take these children in. Our new project provides that upfront funding to find more families," he said.