31 May 2021 Muslim children in foster care

Academics at the University of Coventry and the University of Malawi provide an analysis of one of the social realities facing British Muslims today – the estimated 4,500 children in care. A long-standing researcher in this field, Dr. Sariya Cheruvallil-Contractor of the Centre for Trust Peace and Social Relations, together with Coventry University colleague Dr. Alison Halford, Centre for Data Science and Dr. Mphatso Boti Phiri of Chancellor College, Malawi, provide a case study and findings from interviews conducted with 41 social workers, adoptive parents, prospective adoptive parents, policy makers, legal practitioners, foster carers, and care leavers over a period of 18 months (2017–2018) in the Midlands. The growing number of Muslim children in this category is in part due to the significant proportion of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC) arriving in the United Kingdom appear to be of Muslim heritage: “as UASCs are one of the most vulnerable groups in the system, religion can be a protective measure and improve human security for these refugee children when adapting to unfamiliar cultural norms in a host country . . . However, as national figures focus more on documenting a child’s ethnicity, the demands placed upon local authorities to accommodate the needs of Muslim UASCs has at times overwhelmed fostering services”. click here.