Case Study: Cultural understanding

The following case gives an example of two children from an Indian background that needed to be removed from their family of origin and taken into foster care.

Background of the Family.
Mina aged 8 and Rohit aged 6 came into care of the local authority (looked after) because their father and mother had not been able to care for them. The father Vikram, used to physically chastise the children, and the mother Rani used to collude with him. Rani also suffered from mental health problems and was hospitalised for long periods of time. When she would come home she wanted the children to keep quiet, as she needed to take some rest. There were some incidences of domestic violence also that the children used to get caught into.

Mina and Rohit’s experiences in Foster Care.
Mina and Rohit were placed with white foster carers in an area where they were the only children from a Black Minority Ethnic background. Rohit used to get upset when other children and older people called him names and bully him. He used to ask why they bullied him – the foster carer would say to just ignore them and that it will go away. Over the two-year period that he lived there, he became angrier and used to lash out at children or the teachers. Often at home he would scream if the foster carers said something and latterly had also started to wet his bed.

Due to these reasons the children were moved to an Indian family – Mohan and Rita who had a 16 year old son Raj. Mina was unhappy at first as she enjoyed the attention she got at the previous foster carer- she said she liked wearing jeans and tops rather than Shalwar Kameez. However as time passed by she enjoyed the festivals – Holi and Diwali being celebrated with lots of gifts, sweets and colourful clothes. Mina started to take pride in her appearance and chose clothes from Indian shops. Being of Hindu religion Mina and Rohit also started to attend the temples along with the foster carer and also started to attend the religious education on Sundays.
Rohit started to look up to Raj and felt safer going out with him and talking to his friends. Mohan, Rita and Raj shared their experiences of racism with Rohit and Raj told him how to avoid getting into situation where he could be bullied. Rohit said he did not share his experiences of bullying with the previous foster carer as he didn’t want to trouble them, but he said that bullying used to make him angry and he wanted to scream.

Mina also enjoyed the Indian food. She said it reminded of her home, she liked going to the Asian superstore with the foster carers. Mina and Rohit’s parents were vegetarian and these foster carers made various vegetarian dishes. With the previous foster carer the children used to have hamburgers when they went to McDonalds and at their house they were mostly given egg and bread and they missed the Indian food.

The birth parents also stopped complaining about their children’s standard of care and were appreciative of Mohan and Rita’s care.
The experiences of Rohit and Mina, demonstrates the importance of culturally matched placements, and how the children felt understood by Mohan and Rita.

As they were from the same cultural background they could help Rohit and Mina to value and celebrate their heritage, and to provide them with positive role models which they had been missing in their lives in the past.
Case history provided by Sahara,
www.bmeadoptionandfostering.co.uk n

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