Sergio and Rubio arrived in the UK as child refugees almost two years ago. Their story is marked by tragedy and upheaval. Their father was shot dead by the authorities in their native Angola on charges of espionage. Only a few weeks later, after seeking refuge with a friend, they too were being hunted by their father's murderers.
They were swiftly dispatched to the UK for their own safety. Within a week of arriving in London, they were placed with Jacqui Robie, a foster carer who has been looking after them ever since. "The first thing I did was to get an English-Portuguese dictionary," she recalls. "I don't speak their native Portuguese and they didn't speak any English, so we used a lot of sign language."
Luckily, Robie was fostering another Angolan child at the time who loved to cook, and as Angolan cuisine is similar to Robie's own Caribbean diet, together they made Sergio and Rubio feel more at home. "Food was really important in helping them settle down," she explains.
Sergio, 15, and Rubio, 14, have now learned English from school and television, making communication much easier. But there are far more complex issues involved with the welfare of these children than just language. Robie spends a lot of time encouraging the boys to take part in events at the local Angolan Society, but as they grow used to British culture this is becoming increasingly difficult.
Rubio says it was hard to settle in his new home at first, but: "I like English things more than Angolan things now. I like to go swimming, play football and go to the cinema." He doesn't like to talk or think about his family or Angola.
Encouraging minority families
In the past, local authorities regularly placed Black and minority ethnic children with White foster parents, as adopters or foster carers from these communities were scarce. Although the issue remains controversial, experts are increasingly convinced that trans-racial adoption and fostering is damaging to the development of a positive self-image, identity and self-esteem for Black and minority ethnic children.
But to meet the increasing demand for adopters and foster carers with Black and minority ethnic heritage, local authorities will need to recruit much larger numbers than they have to date. For instance, in November 2003, a BAAF Adoption & Fostering study revealed a third of African-Caribbean children waiting for adoption received no enquiries, compared to 15 per cent of children of mixed parentage and six per cent of White children.
In recent years, there have been various initiatives aimed at recruiting more Black and minority ethnic adopters and foster carers to meet the high demand for appropriate placements. In September 2002, for instance, BAAF launched its three-year Black and Minority Ethnic Carer Recruitment Project, with the Association for London Government. Its broad aim is to work with London authorities to develop advertising and recruitment initiatives.
The project's development and training officer, Gwen Rule, says her role has been dedicated to supporting agencies in their local recruitment campaigns and strategies. "This involves working with community organisations, networking with various businesses and voluntary organisations, and attending social events such as the Brick Lane Festival and the Notting Hill Carnival," she says. "While it's crucial to work with Black and minority ethnic media and faith groups, this is not enough on its own."
This is an experience shared by the St Francis Children's Society, based in Milton Keynes, which in 1998 launched the Anancy Black Families initiative to encourage Black adopters to come forward. Now a quarter of its applicants come from Black and mixed-heritage families. "We've learned over six years that you have to go out and get Black families - they won't come to you," says project leader Lorna Sackey-Clarke.
She points out that young, Black British couples are more likely to respond to advertising than Black couples who were born in a different culture, because couples born overseas can find discussing adoption difficult, and anxiously wonder if the local authority will understand them.
As a result, Sackey-Clarke works with three community co-ordinators to reach Black families by visiting ethnic supermarkets, hairdressers and key community events, as well as through print and broadcast media interviews.
Bridging the cultural gap
One of the major obstacles Black adopters or foster carers face with local authorities, says Sackey-Clarke, is what can be described as cultural insensitivity or institutional racism. "It is possible local authorities consider Black families not as a resource but as needing resources. Most social workers find it easier to place a child with a White family. Some White social workers don't understand how Black families function, and that can be misinterpreted," she adds.
Staffing is therefore a crucial issue when setting up a project aimed at recruiting from Black and minority ethnic communities, advises Jackie Jennings, managing director of the Safe Haven Consultancy, an independent fostering agency. "Enquirers often ask: 'Who will be my social worker?
Will they understand my background and culture?' This is because they want to be seen as competent, professional, supportive adults but, because of their cultural background, they feel they may be perceived as dysfunctional," she says.
Robie understands the difficulties prospective Black foster parents can face. She initially approached her local authority in London to become a foster parent, but was told she would need a year's experience in a childcare role because she lacked experience. A few months later, she saw an ad in The Voice, a Black newspaper, for a private fostering agency.
"My local authority only wanted me for emergency placements and weren't encouraging," she says. "When the assessor from the private fostering agency visited me I was really nervous, but they said I'd passed the initial assessment and that I seemed the kind of foster carer they were looking for."
Sue Gourvish, head of services at the Fostering Network, believes London councils are becoming better at recruiting Black and minority ethnic adopters and foster carers, and that other local authorities have a lot to learn from their experience. "Social services departments need to reach out to these groups and listen carefully to what they say fostering services need to do to make them comfortable as carers," she counsels.
Another challenge is cost: setting up an initiative to recruit Black and minority ethnic adopters is expensive, says Kath Smith, project manager at Families That Last, part of Manchester-based independent adoption-support service After Adoption. "Publicity is a big issue," she explains.
A long and arduous process
In Smith's experience, the adoption process is a long and arduous one.
For instance, an advertisement may generate 30 applicants, who then go through a long and costly period of training and assessment before just one of them is approved to adopt.
But a growing understanding of the importance of ethnic, cultural and religious identity to child development has led to the launch of faith-based fostering projects such as Foster Care Link's Islamic Fostering Service. While it's not the first fostering service aimed at the Muslim community, its director Ismail Amaan says increasing demand for such placements led to its creation this year (Children Now, 5-11 May).
"The need is more acute in this community than in the rest of the UK," he claims. "We argue that Islam, like Judaism, is not just a religion but a way of life. From the time you wake up to eat a Halal breakfast to practising the Muslim faith during the day, a practising Muslim would be best suited to preserving the child's identity."
The aim, says Amaan, is to explain to the Islamic community how fostering can be interpreted as acceptable for a Muslim. "For Muslims, fostering has been encouraged historically. The prophet Mohammed fostered a boy and was himself fostered. It's about awakening that lost tradition," he adds.
Jennings is clear that Black and minority ethnic children in care need to be with adopters or foster carers of the same ethnic and cultural background: "White carers can offer basic care, but for a child's self esteem to be high and to feel wanted and accepted, they need an awareness of their racial identity. The best way to develop that is with parents of the same race and culture."
FACT FILE
- In November 2003, a BAAF Adoption & Fostering study showed one in five children waiting for adoption had no enquiries. A third of African-Caribbean children had no enquiries compared to 15 per cent of children of mixed parentage and six per cent of White children
- Seven per cent of looked-after children in England in 2003 were described as Black or Black British
- Two per cent of looked-after children in England in 2003 were described as Asian or Asian British
- Mixed ethnic origin children in England, between 31 March 2002 and 2003, accounted for eight per cent of looked-after children
Source: DfES
CASE STUDY - RESPECT FOR CHILDREN'S RELIGIOUS AND CULTURAL NEEDS
Moroccan-born Kaltoum Elmenani began fostering nine years ago, and has since cared for Black, minority ethnic and White children. She became interested after she was asked to baby sit for her aunt, who was a foster carer. She enjoyed it so much she approached her local authority, the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames. "They were really supportive and said they especially needed Arab and Muslim foster carers," she says.
Her first placement was a six-month-old Moroccan baby with Down's Syndrome, Pauline, who Elmenani still cares for. Pauline's parents wanted her to learn Arabic, so locating an Arabic-speaking carer was important for the placement team.
Throughout her placements, Elmenani has been careful to respect the religious and cultural needs of children. "I usually talk to the child's mum about these things," she explains. This even meant sacrificing visits to her mosque for 10 months when the parent of a little boy asked that he not be taken.
Positive strategy
Jacqueline Alsop, the council's fostering publicity and recruitment officer, says the recruitment strategy is simple. "You hear it said repeatedly by people who have enquired about fostering that when they call the borough there is no one to speak to and their call isn't followed up," she says. "If you put a strategy in place to call back everyone who enquires about fostering and stay in touch while they are considering fostering, this works regardless of ethnic background." Despite having a small looked-after population of only 100 children, Alsop reveals that the department is constantly in need of recruiting foster carers from all ethnic backgrounds. In fact, while Kingston's fostering department has been particularly successful in recruiting Black and minority ethnic foster carers, the borough is now short of White European foster carers.
