'Pathways to adoption for minority ethnic children in England--reasons for entry to care': Child & Family Social Work.

Selwyn, Julie ; Wijedsa, Dinithi

Some minority ethnic children are over-represented in the care system and under-represented among those going forward to adoption. The aim of this study was to understand more about minority ethnic children's care careers, and in particular the histories of children with adoption recommendations. Analysis was done of the case files of a sample of 120 minority ethnic children from three local authorities who had received an adoption recommendation. The findings showed no evidence that children were being removed unfairly or in a discriminatory way. However, there were significant differences by ethnic group in the characteristics of children and their mothers, in reasons for entry and in age at referral. The factors leading to the children becoming looked after included: family honour; severe maternal mental illness, often combined with domestic violence; and parental drug or alcohol misuse. The article concludes that these differences need to be better understood and interventions need to be targeted at improving the circumstances and stresses within families. Simply focusing on reducing the number of minority ethnic children in care will not in itself produce better outcomes for children.

16:3, August 2011, pp 276-86