by PRAMOD THOMAS
ASIAN and black kinship carers “feel
abandoned” by services meant to
assist them, a new survey has said, as
many feeling “overlooked in favour of
white relatives”.
Kinship carers are family members or
friends who care for a child when their
parents are unable to do so.
Statistics indicate that one in five of the
120,000 children in kinship care in Eng-
land is being cared for by a minority eth-
nic carer.
A lack of cultural competence and sys-
temic racism within services is failing
both kinship carers and the children they
are raising, the report found.
Titled Raised by Relatives; The experi-
ences of Black and Asian kinship carers the
survey revealed some carers felt their eth-
nicity or experiences of racism influenced
the decisions made by professionals.
“Many of these carers are “feeling
abandoned” by the services meant to as-
sist them,” according to the report.
“They reported feeling they had no
choice but to take on the responsibility,
often making quick decisions with limit-
ed information.
“This situation is often exacerbated by
financial strain, emotional challenges,
and the practical difficulties of raising a
child,” the study concluded.
It was based on interviews and assess-
ments with 37 kinship carers from black
and Asian communities and was pub-
lished last month.
Carers revealed that social workers of-
ten made assumptions about their sup-
port networks, assuming that large ex-
tended families automatically equated to
readily available support. However, car-
ers often had additional caring responsi-
bilities and faced a gradual disengage-
ment of support from the wider family
over time, the report said.
An Asian carer said, “My family is large,
and my husband’s family is even bigger.
But the issue was that in my community,
looking after each other is just the norm.
Children’s Services saw my mum and all
my sisters helping out, coming and going,
and we were always doing things togeth-
er. The social workers noticed this and
assumed, ‘Oh, you’ve got a supportive
network, so you’re fine.’ They failed to
recognise that my niece needed support.
Instead, they just saw it as ‘You’ve got a
big family, that typical Asian community.’
One of them even said to me, ‘Many peo-
ple don’t have that.’ I told them, ‘I don’t
care about that. That’s not the point.’”
A British Pakistani aunt said, “They
(Children Services) need to stop stereo-
typing, when they’re doing the assess-
ments of carers with a bigger extended
family who have those networks. The
networks can break down. There are bar-
riers to those networks. Speak to any
Asian family; they’ll tell you there are bar-
riers and stress,”
“The way we’ve been brought up with
these extended family strong networks –
the stress is ridiculous. I mean, you look at
each family; there’s somebody with men-
tal health because of this trauma, depres-
sion and adverse childhood experiences.”
One British Indian carer described an
incident where professionals objected to
her bringing Asian food for her grandsons
during contact visits.
“We used to attend the contact centre
regularly when we were allowed, and we
used to take them our food, our chapati
and curry, because they were used to
that, and they loved it. A few weeks later,
the local authority decided that we
shouldn’t be taking food; we should only
take a packet of crisps or something be-
cause the boys were looking forward to
the food too much, and we were not hav-
ing enough interaction. The boys would
ask why haven’t you brought the chapatis
and the curry,” she said.
The report also stressed the need for
better financial support for kinship car-
ers, recognising the unique role they play.
Additionally, it highlighted the impor-
tance of providing culturally appropriate
services to address the specific needs of
black and Asian kinship carers. The report
also recommended improved support for
children in kinship care within schools,
including measures to prevent bullying.
It also suggested offering support to
the birth children of kinship carers, who
may also be affected by the changes with-
in their family.
Dr Priya Tah and professor Julie Selwyn
from the Rees Centre at the University
of Oxford Department of Education,
who led the research said, “The report
addresses a gap in knowledge, as the
research enabled black and Asian kinship
carers the space to share their experienc-
es of raising a family member’s child.
“Universally, kinship carers need extra
financial support and help to address
children’s needs and feel that they are not
navigating the challenges on their own.
Black and Asian carers’ experiences were
intensified by assumptions made by ser-
vices, the absence of support groups tai-
lored for specific ethnic groups and the
impact of systemic racism on the carers
and children they were raising.”
Lucy Peake, chief executive of Kinship
said, “Our report shows that ethnicity
plays a significant role in shaping the
challenges and access to support experi-
enced by kinship carers from black and
Asian communities.
“It’s vital that we listen to and learn
from Black and Asian kinship carers who
are often being let down by professionals
who fail to understand their specific
needs and use the report to improve poli-
cy and practice across the sector to better
support these families.”
News
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ETHNIC FAMILIES URGE SERVICES TO ADDRESS CULTURAL NEGLECT AND FINANCIAL STRAIN
‘Minority carers battle racial
bias in broken kinship system’
A TWO-PHASE public inquiry
began on Monday (7) into the
killing of three girls in Southport
last year, which triggered Brit-
ain’s worst riots in decades.
Bebe King, aged six, Elsie Dot
Stancombe, seven, and nine-
year-old Alice da Silva Aguiar
died in the stabbing spree at a
Taylor Swift-themed dance class.
Axel Rudakubana, now 18, al-
so attempted to kill eight other
children and two adults.
He was jailed in January for a
minimum of 52 years.
Launching the probe, home
secretary Yvette Cooper said the
first phase would “thoroughly
investigate” the circumstances of
the July 29 attack in the north-
western seaside town, including
Rudakubana’s multiple interac-
tions with public authorities.
Rudakubana had repeated
contact with the police, courts
and welfare services as well as
the government’s counter-terror
programme Prevent, but all
failed to spot the risk he posed.
The second phase would ex-
amine the wider issue of young
people being drawn towards ex-
treme violence.
“We owe it to their families,
and all those affected to quickly
understand what went wrong,
answer difficult questions and
do everything in our power to
prevent something like this from
happening again,” Cooper said,
describing the murders as an
“unimaginable tragedy”.
After his arrest, police found
violent content on Rudakubana’s
devices including images of
dead bodies, victims of torture,
beheadings, and cartoons de-
picting violence and rape.
The probe, with legal powers
to compel witnesses to give evi-
dence, will be chaired by retired
senior judge Adrian Fulford.
Southport stabbings probe examines institutional failings
EUROPEAN visitors to Britain
will have to purchase an elec-
tronic permit in advance for
trips, as the UK government fol-
lows other countries in seeking
to strengthen immigration secu-
rity by screening people before
they cross its borders.
The Electronic Travel Author-
isation (ETA) scheme requires all
visitors who do not need a visa to
enter Britain to purchase pre-
travel authorisation online at a
cost of £16 from Wednesday (9).
Irish citizens are excluded.
The regime was initially rolled
out to non-European nationals
last year, including visitors from
the US, Canada and Australia.
“Expanding ETA worldwide
cements our commitment to en-
hance security through technol-
ogy and innovation,” migration
minister Seema Malhotra said
last month.
Applying for an ETA should be
simple through the UK ETA app,
with the vast majority of appli-
cants receiving a decision auto-
matically in minutes, the Home
Office said.
Applicants provide a photo
and biographic details and an-
swer questions on suitability
and criminality. Once an appli-
cant has successfully applied,
their ETA is digitally linked to
their passport.
An ETA allows multiple visits
to the UK of up to six months
over a two-year period.
Airlines, ferry and train com-
panies will be responsible for
verifying the ETA status of travel-
lers before they board.
The UK received 22.5 million
visitors from the European Un-
ion in 2023, up from 19 million in
2022, according to official data.
The EU’s much delayed post-
Brexit border security checks for
UK nationals entering the bloc
are slated to be introduced in Oc-
tober. Britain left the EU in 2020.
European visitors must now pay £16 permit fee before entering Britain
OVERLOOKED: One in five
children in kinship care in
England is cared for by a
minority ethnic carer
SCARS REMAIN: A vigil
held in Southport after the
fatal stabbings last year
© Dan Kitwood/Getty Images