Recent news reports about a "white Christian" child being looked after by mixed-race Muslim foster parents have raised concerns about cultural matching in foster care and fears that potential foster carers from ethnic minorities could be deterred from offering their services.
The story in the Times claimed that the five-year-old child had been at times "very distressed" in her placement by Tower Hamlets Council with "Arabic-speaking" foster carers, and that a carer removed her necklace with a crucifix on it and banned her from eating spaghetti carbonara because it contained pork. Further investigation clarified that in fact the girl was not denied certain types of food for religious reasons and, while a long necklace was removed from her, this was because her carer was worried it posed a safety risk. The child had in fact been placed with an English-speaking family of mixed race, as a temporary measure, and a court-appointed guardian had judged the child "to be in a settled and happy position".
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