Couple ‘told they could not adopt white child due to Indian heritage’
A BRITISH couple who claim they were advised they could not adopt a “white child” because of their Indian heritage have taken a council to court in a landmark discrimination case.
Sandeep and Reena Mander, of Maidenhead, Berks, allege they were refused an application to join a register of approved adopters because of their Asian ancestry and told their chances would be improved if they looked to adopt in India or Pakistan.
The couple yesterday took their fight against the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead council to Oxford County Court, claiming discrimination. Their case is backed by the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
The council has rejected claims its social workers were “racist”, while an adoption official told the court she deferred the couple’s application because they wanted “a young, under three years old, simple-needs child”.
The Manders, who are in their 30s, showed an interest in adopting after a 2015 seminar by Adopt Berkshire, the council’s adoption service.
Mr Mander, a vice-president at an IT company, told the court he was asked his ethnic origin upon ringing the agency. When he stated they were born and raised in Britain but their parents were born in India, Mr Mander claimed he was told they were unlikely to be approved as potential adopters due to their “Indian background”, because only white children were available in Berkshire and the surrounding area.
Although the Manders live in a fivebedroom house in Maidenhead, Berks, and claim they were willing to offer any child a loving home and were otherwise suitable to adopt, they said Adopt Berkshire claimed it would still not let them apply to join the adopters’ register because of their “Indian heritage”.
The couple say this was discrimination on the grounds of race, in breach of the Equality Act 2010 and the European Convention on Human Rights.
Hilary Loades, the Adopt Berkshire “gatekeeper”, who rejected their adoption application, told the court she “deferred the application indefinitely” because the couple wanted “a young under three years old, simple needs child”. The council had a lot of older vulnerable children in need of adoption, she said, so she told Mr and Mrs Mander to “come back another time”.
She added: “At the time, they were seeking placement for a single young child which did not match the criteria.”
Mrs Mander, a programme manager, said that in 2017, Shirley Popat, a social worker, “confirmed she would not accept our application due to our cultural heritage and our only other option was to adopt from India or Pakistan”.
The Manders have since successfully adopted a young boy from America.
Katherine Foster, defending the council, which denies the claims, told Mrs Mander: “You are now determined to attribute racism to these social workers. You interpreted it as being racist when it was not.” She told Mrs Mander: “In your application [to adopt in the US], you stated you wanted a child who was white or Hispanic. You wanted a child who looked more like you.”
Mrs Mander replied: “I do not look white and I do not look Hispanic. We were advised not to tick every box, we did not mind what ethnicity the child was.” The case continues.