Sikh says ‘culture obsession’ destroyed adoption bid
A MARRIED Sikh blocked from adopting a white baby has said an ‘obsession with cultural sensibilities’ is putting would-be parents off and denying children family homes.
British-born Sandeep Mander and his wife Reena claimed they were stopped from adopting a young child over ‘cultural heritage’ concerns. He said children were being denied stable homes because authorities were waiting for an ‘elusive’ ethnic and cultural match.
He spoke out last night following the controversy in Tower Hamlets. Mr and Mrs Mander, both business professionals from Berkshire, said they were advised to ‘adopt a child from
India’ – despite many white British children needing homes. They are now preparing to adopt from the United States instead.
Writing in The Spectator, the 36-year-old said: ‘It was wrong of Tower Hamlets to place a white Christian girl – one old enough to understand her identity – with foster parents who appear to have tried to convert her to Islam.
‘But it is wrong, too, that an obsession with cultural sensibilities is being used to turn capable parents away from the adoption system.
‘Councils may think they are doing the children a service, but they are letting them down badly.’ Mr Mander said he and his wife had Indian parents but the couple were not practising Sikhs, and they were ‘British, born and raised’.
The couple had been found to be suitable parents by Adopt Berkshire, the county-wide agency run by the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead. But Mr Mander added: ‘The [agency] official... suggested they would not be able to prioritise us. When I asked what they meant, she came up with the term “cultural heritage”.
‘On the basis that our parents came from India, we have been prevented from adopting any white British child.’