Legal Update: Cultural matching in foster care
Coram Children's Legal Centre
Tuesday, September 26, 2017
Reports of a child being placed with "inappropriate" foster carers spark fears that placement options for children could be more limited.
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".
Foster care placement and the law
The Children Act 1989 requires a local authority to give consideration to "religious persuasion, racial origin and cultural and linguistic background" when making decisions about a child who is in care as a result of a court order. The Children Act 1989 Guidance and Regulations Volume 4: Fostering Services outlines that foster carers "should be informed, trained and confident about dealing with issues relating to gender, religion, ethnic origin, cultural background, linguistic background, nationality, disability or sexual orientation", involving external professional advice and support as necessary. They also need to be able to "balance the individual needs, wishes and preferences of the individual child with those of others in the household".
By comparison, when placing a child for adoption, the Adoption and Children Act 2002 requires that due consideration be given to the child's religious persuasion, racial origin and cultural and linguistic background but these factors should not be used to prevent a child being placed with adopters of a different background: the paramount consideration must be the child's welfare.
Shortage of foster carers
The Fostering Network has highlighted that 5,900 new foster families are needed to meet demand in England. Local authorities with a high population of families of different backgrounds may be able to meet their sufficiency requirements with targeted fostering recruitment campaigns, but most are not going to be able to guarantee that a child will be placed with a foster carer who matches their religious persuasion, racial origin, cultural and linguistic background. In this case, Tower Hamlets explained that "while cultural background is always a significant consideration in making this decision, so too are other factors including remaining in the local area to promote contact with the child's family and for the child to continue at the same school in order to give them as much stability as possible."
It is important to note that in the case of almost all unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in foster care, they are often placed with families who do not speak their language, and are not of the same religion. This does not prevent the provision of successful and supportive foster care, although the lack of foster carers affects this group and is also an ongoing concern. In November 2016, the then minister for families committed to increasing the number of foster carers in his statement on a national strategy for safeguarding unaccompanied children, which is due in the Autumn.
Sir Martin Narey, a government adviser on children's social care, has warned that the recent media coverage could result in "professionals reverting to more cautious race and religious-based decisions when placing children". It is hoped this will not be the case, as any further limits on their potential placements would only be detrimental to children in care.
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Legal Update is produced in association with experts at Coram Children's Legal Centre www.childrenslegalcentre.com
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