Race, religion and representation among care-experienced children

This project will investigate the impact of ethnicity, religion and other aspects of personal identity on the experiences of minoritised children in care.

For looked-after children and young people from minoritised backgrounds, a stable home which offers security and belonging can provide the space to negotiate the complexities of their circumstances and identity. Despite children with complex identities often needing extra help to make sense of their identity, the Children and Families Act 2014 no longer requires English adoption agencies to provide for a child’s race, religion or cultural birth heritage. Complicating this, existing data on looked-after children focuses solely on ethnicity, failing to employ an intersectional approach that accounts for other dimensions of identity. Shortages of foster carers and adopters means that same-ethnic matches are not always possible, furthermore same-ethnic matches may not always in the best interests of a child.

This project seeks to adjust current practice to better accommodate individual needs by developing an evidence base of how young people from minoritised backgrounds experience and express their identities. A ‘lived religion’ approach will be utilized, which understands that religious identities are continually evolving and multifaceted.

The research will be broken down into three stages:

1. Conducting 30 interviews with care-experienced minoritised children and young people to understand their life history narratives.
2. Creating an intersectional framing of young people’s identities in care, particularly around the intersections of ethnicity and faith.
3. Developing training and policy initiatives in partnership with practitioners, accounting for young people’s voices.

The research will further our understanding of how social care systems approach diversity and identity, whether minoritised children receive appropriate support around their beliefs, and how they perceive and express their identities. As well as a final research report and academic papers, a range of other outputs will be developed through this project, including a practice tool, policy and practice briefing documents, and an animated film.