New twist in Christian foster girl case as she’s sent to live with Muslim gran
A ROW over a five-yearold Christian child sent to live with Muslim foster carers took an extraordinary twist last night when it emerged the girl’s grandparents are Muslims.
The girl’s mother had claimed her foster care was inappropriate and a Family Court judge ruled she should be allowed to live with her maternal grandmother instead.
But court documents revealed the grandmother is a non-practising Muslim, does not appear to speak English as her first language and wants to raise the British-born child abroad – against the wishes of the girl’s mother.
The case led to a national outcry after reports that the distraught Christian child had sobbed and begged not to be returned to a Muslim foster family, who she said did not speak English.
Politicians called for a review and the Children’s Commissioner for England contacted Tower Hamlets council in East London to raise concerns about the case.
The council had refused to reveal details about the child’s background but insisted she had been fostered by an Englishspeaking family of mixed race, and said it was the ‘best placement available at the time’.
In an unusual move, Family Court judge Khatun Sapnara, who presided over a hearing on Tuesday, said sections of her order should be made public because of the ‘exceptionally high degree of interest in the circumstances of this case’. The eight-page document revealed the child was taken from her mother in March after police intervened, and that the mother is facing criminal prosecution and undergoing court-ordered testing for alcohol and cocaine abuse.
The mother wants her daughter returned to her, but had supported plans for the child to live with her maternal grandmother in Britain.
But the grandmother has now told officials she wants to return to her home country and take the child with her.
A court-ordered assessment of the maternal grandparents stated they were ‘of a Muslim background but are non-practising’.
The child’s mother insists her family is of ‘Christian heritage’ and the girl was reportedly christened in church and wore a cross on a necklace, said to have been taken away by one of her Muslim foster carers.
The Times reported that she had told her family that her foster carer had said she should learn Arabic and had refused to allow her to eat her favourite food, spaghetti carbonara, prepared by her birth mother, because it contained bacon.
She was also reported to have told her biological mother recently that ‘European women are stupid and alcoholic’ and that ‘Christmas and Easter are stupid,’ prompting questions about attitudes to British culture
expressed within her foster homes. The girl has now been allowed to live with her grandmother for the time being, until a future court hearing.
Her biological father’s whereabouts are unknown.
Judge Sapnara said the case had a complex history and background, and said Tower Hamlets council disputed allegations made against the foster carers.
A court-ordered assessment of the maternal grandmother was ‘positive’ and recommended her as a suitable carer, and the council wants the child to live with her permanently. The judge noted: ‘The grandmother has changed her position now to say she wishes to return to her country of origin and care for the child there.’
She added: ‘The local authority’s proposal is that the child remains in the care of the grandmother long-term. The mother opposes this. The mother will continue to have supervised contact with the child. All necessary evidence has yet to be filed.’
The judge ordered that various legal documents should be translated ‘into the language spoken by the maternal grandmother’.
She also ordered the Metropolitan Police to reveal all documents relating to criminal proceedings against the mother, including pre- sentencing reports and details or her sentence.
Tower Hamlets Council said it welcomed the judge’s decision to release details of the case. A spokesman said: ‘ It supports our position that we have always had the child’s best interests at heart and it was Tower Hamlets Council’s proposal to have the child moved to the care of her grandmother.
‘It also gives other information about the case that we have been unable to provide in recent days due to legal restrictions to protect the child and foster parents from being identified.’
The council is understood to be considering making a formal complaint against The Times newspaper to the Press watchdog, the Independent Press Standards Organisation.