Foster Portsmouth once again marked Race Equality Week (2-8 February) by celebrating the diversity of the children in our care and the contributions of our foster carers from the black, Asian and global ethnic majority community.
Race Equality Week is an annual UK-wide movement uniting thousands of organisations and individuals to address the barriers to race equality.
The BBC reported that current figures show a higher proportion of children in care are from diverse backgrounds, compared with numbers of carers from the same communities.
In the BBC’s report, foster carer Claudia shares: “I would love to see a rise in people from the BAME community going into fostering. I know that sounds so simplistic but it’s not. There’s a self-fulfilment that you get from being a foster carer but, besides that, there are children that need you.”
We need additional foster carers with the skills and experience to help children develop a positive sense of their own identity. Foster Portsmouth welcome all enquiries about fostering regardless of age, gender, faith, ethnicity, sexuality, marital, residential or work status. Our foster carers come from all walks of life, and they all share the same commitment and motivation to make a positive difference to a child’s life.
Tamara and Menno have provided supported lodgings for vulnerable young people in the Portsmouth area for six years. Tamara shared, “As a woman of colour and daughter of an immigrant, I am particularly passionate about immigrant and refugee rights, and about supporting unaccompanied children seeking safety and asylum. This led me to hosting young people, particularly unaccompanied asylum seeking young people, through Supported Lodgings with Foster Portsmouth.”
With the current national shortage, we always need additional foster carers from diverse backgrounds with the skills and experience to reflect the children and young people in our care and help them develop a positive sense of their own identity. This includes additional carers from the black, Asian and global ethnic majority community so the children may share as many aspects of their culture, religion and ethnic origin with their carers as possible, although we provide training so carers can support a child of any faith and ethnicity.
Portsmouth is an incredibly diverse city, with over 100 different languages to be heard around on the island itself each day, and where many different religions are practiced. Of course, with all these languages spoken and different faiths practised, foster care situations will occasionally bring up a cultural or religious issue, but we’ll be there every step of the way to help you through it.
Rachel, a full-time sole carer currently caring for three unaccompanied minors from Sudan, explains: “I hadn’t taken in unaccompanied children seeking safety and asylum before because I was worried about the language barrier. However, this never materialised. I’ve learnt to care for their individual needs; to understand their customs, support them with observing Ramadan and respect their prayer time.”
All children from the black, Asian and global ethnic majority community entering foster care need the opportunity to celebrate their history and cultural heritage. They also require support to manage any racism and discrimination they may experience.
Foster Portsmouth’s pledge to the children and young people in our care includes the crucial promise: “Your identity is important to us, and we promise to help you with connecting to your heritage and history.” Working in partnership with our foster carers is critical to this.
When placing a child with a foster family, we consider a range of criteria to ensure the best match possible and secure its success. These include not only the age and gender of the child and those of the foster carer’s children, but also the number of children in the home, location, ethnicity and religion, as well as additional factors such as pets. However, the most important consideration is the individual needs of the child and a foster carer’s experience.
Tamara’s advice to anyone considering becoming a Supported Lodgings or foster carer is, “Do it! You are providing a young person with a secure base as they make their way in the world.”
The council welcomes all enquiries about fostering. This could be a short or long term arrangement for a child or siblings until they’re ready to live independently or be reunited with family, support for unaccompanied children seeking safety and asylum or children with a disability, supported lodgings to develop their independent living skills, parent and baby placements, or respite care.
Carers receive local round the clock support and ongoing quality training including therapeutic care including through our mentoring scheme and our innovative award-winning Mockingbird programme which provides a support network of other foster carers similar to that of an extended family. They also receive competitive fees, benefit and allowances.
To enquire or to arrange a 1:1 with one of our experienced team or existing foster carers, please fill in our contact form: https://foster.portsmouth.gov.uk/enquire-now/ or call 0300 1312797.
