Christian foster row girl now in Muslim gran’s care
A ROW over a five-year-old 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 Britishborn child abroad – against the wishes of the girl’s mother.
The case led to an outcry after reports that the distraught child had 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 English-speaking family of mixed race, which 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
‘We had her best interests at heart’
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 nonpractising’. The child’s mother insists her family is of ‘Christian heritage’ and the girl was reportedly christened in church.
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.
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.’
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.’