Cultural diversity in foster care

Cultural diversity in foster care

Children and young people in the foster care system often come from all races, religions and ethnicities. Generally, it’s a diverse pool of young people coming from all different walks of life. That’s why we encourage our foster carers to be just as diverse – as, in some instances, it can be more beneficial for the child in care to be placed with foster carers of their own religion or culture. Learn more about our foster care placement matching from Excel Fostering, and why matching foster children to culturally similar foster families is so important.

Foster care placement matching

Community Care Inform and BAAF conducted a study in 2011 and produced guidance requiring “foster carers and fostering services to ensure full attention is paid to a looked-after child’s gender, faith, ethnic origin, cultural and linguistic background, sexual orientation and any disability they might have. Children should be encouraged and supported to have positive views of themselves and to be proud of their identity and heritage…”

With this in mind, we recognise that the more ethnically and culturally similar placement families are to the foster child’s own family, the better this may be for the child. This is because they can then continue living in the culture, religion, and language of their heritage without disruption – therefore leading to cultural foster care placement matching.

By pairing foster children with a foster family of a similar culture, this will allow them to practise their religion in an environment that is like-minded, supportive and respectful. As well as this, the celebration of ethnic holidays is also important to a child’s social and personal development – which is something that can be easily achieved when the foster child is in the care of a foster family from the same culture.

However, it’s important to note that foster parents may be matched to a foster child of the same cultural background, but this is never guaranteed. Our careful matching process aims to make cultural and religious matches where possible and where this is required, though our expectation is that carers from specific communities must want to support children of all backgrounds. In order to become a successful foster carer with Excel Fostering, it’s important you share the desire to support a child or young person to build a brighter future – regardless of race and religion.

Diversity foster care with Excel Fostering

Here at Excel Fostering, we help change children and young people’s lives by placing them in a secure, safe and nurturing environment. Alongside many other factors, one of the considerations when foster care placement matching is culture, race and religion.

That’s why we ensure we are matching our foster placements as best as we can – pairing up a foster carer with a foster child who’s best suited to them. Our main goal is to ensure that the child feels accepted and secure in their home – whether it’s a permanent or short-term placement.

For all of our foster carers, we offer extensive foster care training and support – ensuring that you are fully prepared, with us here for you every step of the way. For more information about fostering across cultures, or our foster care placement matching, get in touch with a member of our friendly team now.