Concern on Asian adoption 'delay'

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South Asian children are having to wait longer for an adoptive family in the UK than white children, children's charity Barnardo's has said.

By law, the ethnic origin of a child has to be considered in adoptions.

Barnardo's chief executive Martin Narey wants more Asian parents to adopt but says children should not be "unduly delayed" if a match cannot be found.

But some charities argue against children being adopted by families from a different background.

At present, any child who comes into the care system is placed with a foster family.

But since legislation was passed in 1989, social workers and children's charities have to take a child's cultural inheritance into account before they place them with a suitable foster or adoptive home.

'Permanent family'

Many of the South Asian children up for adoption in the UK have a family background from Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, with different religions and beliefs spanning across those particular nationalities.

The issue is also affecting black children who can come from West Indian or African backgrounds.

If there are parents from a different ethnic background who can offer a loving stable upbringing, then adoption should go ahead Martin Narey, Barnardo's

"As we, quite properly, seek to provide a reasonable ethnic match as the law requires it means that children from Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) backgrounds will frequently wait longer for adoption than white children and that shouldn't be the case," said Mr Narey.

"Obviously, if there is an Asian child we do our very best to find an Asian family to be the permanent family of that child.

"The law is quite clear [in that] but my view is that, if for whatever reason that option is not available, then for an Asian child, if there are parents from a different ethnic background who can offer a loving stable upbringing, then adoption should go ahead."

'Easier life'

However, Action for Children and Asian adoption agencies and charities say it is important to match children culturally as it allows them to identify and fit in more easily.

They believe it gives the children a sense of belonging which they do not think they will necessarily get with parents who are of a different colour and culture.

They also argue that having loving caring parents is not enough.

Ismail Amaan is the director of the Islamic Fostering Services association.

He said: "All of our families are Muslim so when a Muslim child goes into care they go into a home where a lot of the issues they are faced with are taken care of.

"They know they're going to have halal food and they can go to the mosque with no explanation needed to be given."

Sejal Patel and her husband from Hertfordshire already had a daughter and adopted a toddler, who is Hindu and Gujarati like themselves, four years ago.

"One of the easiest things for us is to walk out as a family and nobody knows that he is adopted because he looks like us," she explained.

He was on a vegetarian diet while they were all eating meat and he wondered why was he the only one who was different Sejal Patel, adoption parent about her child who lived with a white family

"I mean we get told all the time that he looks like my husband. He [the child] absolutely loves people thinking that he belongs to our family and he doesn't feel different."

Mrs Patel's son was initially placed with a white foster family.

"He could tell that he was being given different foods. He was on a vegetarian diet while they were all eating meat and he wondered why was he the only one who was different.

"When he came here he recognised the food and that we were all eating the same things. Those little things made life a lot easier for him."

One of the reasons why a cultural match is difficult is that there are not enough Asian adopters or foster carers from different backgrounds and cultures.

Some of the reasons why prospective Asian adoption and foster parents are not coming forward is a lack of understanding of the system.

Many consider adopting abroad from South Asia before they do so in this country.

"Frankly, we need foster carers and potential adoptive parents of all backgrounds but we particularly need more from a BME background," said Mr Narey.

You can hear more on this story at 1230 and 1800 GMT on 15 March on the <a class="inlineText" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/asiannetwork/news/">BBC's Asian Network Reports radio show</a> or via the <a class="inlineText" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/asiannetwork/programmes/genres/news">BBC iPlayer.</a>