Scotland must “do more to tackle racism and bias” in child protection, according to the organisation overseeing Scottish Government reforms of the care system for children and young people at risk.
The claim was made by Fraser McKinlay, chief executive of The Promise Scotland, who also admitted his own organisation must do more to bring an “anti-racist lens” to its work to ensure the concerns of Black and brown families and children were heard.
The Promise Scotland was formed five years ago to oversee recommended reforms of the care system for children and young people. But campaigners have accused both the care review – and the organisation overseeing improvements to the system – of failing to recognise issues around race and cultural differences.
The Ferret has been investigating claims there are systemic issues with the child protection system in terms of racial and cultural issues for migrant families as part of a cross-border series with Scotland-based Migrant Women Press, and journalists in Romania and Italy.
Earlier this week The Ferret and Migrant Women Press told the story of Nina, an asylum-seeking mother whose children were taken into care following concerns about her parenting. Three of her children were returned to her care following an assessment commissioned by social work after the birth of her fifth baby. It noted a previous lack of racial and cultural understanding by social workers.
However the relationship with the first two of her children taken into care had broken down and they remained in foster care – an arrangement that became permanent. Her fostered son later took his own life. His mother believes cultural bias ripped her family apart.
Grassroots organisations working with migrant families in Scotland’s child protection system claimed that while this case was historic, they had ongoing concerns that the sector was “racially biased”. They said it must be reformed to ensure Black and ethnic minority families were not discriminated against.
Passion4Fusion told us that out of 76 families it had supported in the last two years through the child protection system in Edinburgh, Midlothian, East Lothian, Dundee and Fife, most had “elements of racial bias” in their cases.
In response Fraser McKindlay told The Ferret and Migrant Women Press: “I have heard from organisations working with Black and brown families who are made to feel that their voices aren’t valid.
“Scotland needs to do more to tackle racism and bias in the system, and I recognise that The Promise Scotland needs bring more of an anti-racist lens to our work in supporting the promise to be kept.”
He said the current plan to implement the recommendations of Scotland’s independent care review states that “children and their families must have access to legal support, advice and advocacy to navigate the Home Office asylum procedures.”
“The workforce should understand their religious and cultural contexts and their traditions and cultural needs must be respected by all those involved in their care to ensure their rights are upheld,” he added.
Scotland needs to do more to tackle racism and bias in the system. The Promise Scotland needs bring more of an anti-racist lens to our work in supporting the promise to be kept.
– Fraser McKindlay, The Promise Scotland
He said independent advocacy was one method of helping migrant families get the support they need to ensure fair and equitable outcomes in the child protection system. The right to advocacy is part of the proposed “Promise” bill, published in June this year.
However Victoria Nyanga-Ndiaye – founder of Edinburgh-based charity, Project Esperanza – said that the acknowledgment should have come five years earlier when Promise Scotland was formed, following Scotland’s care review.
She claimed it had failed to take an anti-racist approach and said Black people were an “afterthought.”
“This system does not accommodate culture and does not accommodate race issues,” she said. “I don’t know how we can safely navigate the experiences of Black and brown people without factoring that in.”
According to the most recent Scottish statistics for children taken into care, in 11 percent of cases no ethnicity was recorded. In England it is a legal requirement to record ethnicity. In Scotland it is not. In response to freedom of information requests more than a third of local authorities said they did not record data on whether children taken into care were from migrant families or not.
A spokesperson for the Scottish Government said that its guidance on child protection “makes clear that cultural respect and understanding must be consistently applied in all child care and protection practices.”
They added: “The guidance sets out that professionals should learn about the culture or faith of the child and family and seek advice if necessary. They should also be culturally sensitive while keeping focus on the child’s experience and potential harm.”
