Call to improve Muslim foster carer recruitment process
Nina Jacobs
Monday, November 25, 2019
Many fostering services struggle to recruit Muslim foster carers due to barriers faced by those who could look after children in care such as poverty and poor language skills, a new report has found.
Research, published by fostering charity The Fostering Network, uncovered “gaps in information and opportunities” for fostering services nationwide that would enhance the support for Muslim foster carers and Muslim children in foster care.
The report summarises the findings of the Muslim Fostering Project, led by the charity and its partners Mercy Mission UK and My Foster Family, which explored the fostering experiences of Muslim adults and children.
Poverty and lack of English language skills were found to be among barriers preventing more Muslims to come forward as foster carers.
The charity says many Muslim families were considered to be living in poverty in England, often in overcrowded accommodation.
“A spare room is often a basic requisite to enable a family to foster, however many south Asian Muslim families live together in multi-generational settings, with children commonly sharing bedrooms,” the reports states.
Adults unable to demonstrate competency in English - allowing them to safeguard and advocate on behalf of a looked-after child - also faced an additional barrier, it adds.
This led to calls for fostering services to review their recruitment literature and assess how it responded to the needs of a prospective Muslim foster carer and the wider Muslim community.
Such organisations should also consider how fostering service staff are trained and supported to conduct initial visits and assessment of Muslim applicants to fostering, the report says.
The study aims to identify the number of Muslim children being fostered and to build a picture of the number of Muslim children being placed with non-Muslim foster carers.
The Fostering Network says most services were unable to provide any information as to how many Muslim children in their area were being fostered.
Only 22 organisations responded to a survey sent to all fostering services in England, identifying a total of 267 Muslim children in the care of their service.
“Chief among the reasons is an absence of a requirement to capture the data on faith or religion,” the report states.
The research highlights missing or incomplete information about children prior to placement as impacting the ability of foster carers to meet the needs of the young person in care.
It recommends an increased focus on collecting data about the number of Muslim looked-after children as well as taking into account a child’s faith when placing them with a foster family.
The report also highlights the importance of training and support for non-Muslim foster carers looking after Muslim children.
The research found many “positive examples” of non-Muslim foster carers enabling a Muslim child in their care to thrive but it said training remained “inconsistent” depending on the location of the foster carer.
This meant in some cases individuals undertook their own research to identify the needs of the child and attend to them, the report states.
Kevin Williams, chief executive of The Fostering Network, said the recommendations would increase a focus on providing appropriate support to Muslim children and young people.
“The Muslim Fostering Project has identified the gaps in information and opportunities for fostering services across the country to enhance their provision for Muslim foster carers and Muslim children in foster care.
“We understand the importance of stability for fostered children and young people and the detrimental impact of making the wrong match between a foster family and child.
“We also know how important cultural and religious support can be as part of making the right match first time,” he said.
Shadim Hussain, My Foster Family’s chief executive officer, said: “We feel optimistic that where the findings and recommendations from this report are actioned, we will see a significant improvement in both foster carer recruitment and the experience of Muslim children in foster care.”
