Shocking research into ethnic disparities in foster care leads to creation of the ‘Replenish box’
RESEARCH has shown that there are more black children in care than there are black foster parents, leaving white parents tasked with the responsibility of promoting their foster child’s identity and culture.
As a result, Sarah Livingstone and James Kargbo, have created the ‘Replenish’ box, filled with products to look after the hair and skin of black children in foster care.
Sarah Livingstone, Chair of Camden Association for Foster Carers, said: “The starting point was in 2020, following the murder of George Floyd in the US.
“We held an event with Camden foster carers to facilitate a conversation around black children in care, black foster carers and what we should be doing to support them further.”
Many foster carers voiced that they needed extra support in meeting the needs of children from different cultural backgrounds to themselves, including properly caring for their skin and hair.
The Camden Association for Foster Carers found that 80 percent of children in care in the local authority are from black and ethnic minorities.
It was evident that the conversations should not stop there and that a tangible and practical outcome to bridge the gaps of awareness and understanding were needed to provide this extra support.
James Kargbo, co-founder of Replenish and a fostering team manager at Camden Council, explained: “The children’s social care system and the corporate parenting structure focuses on the basic needs of a child, food, shelter often overlooking what makes us human – a sense of self and belonging.
“It’s difficult to know where you are going if you don’t know where you came from!”
Research has shown that ethnic minority children are overrepresented in the care system and statistics collected from government data in 2020 suggested that black children were more likely to be looked after (7%) and less likely to be adopted (2%) compared with their share of the under 18 population (5%).
Care leavers also made up 25% of the homeless population, almost 25% of the adult prison population, and nearly 50% of under 21-year-olds in contact with the criminal justice system have spent time in care.
In many areas of the UK there is an ongoing shortage of foster carers, and there are often particular shortages of foster carers that reflect the cultural or ethnic background of the child in care, meaning children may be placed with carers from a different cultural, religious or ethnic background.
Identity is important for all children but it is particularly crucial for ethnic minority children in foster care who may be separated from their birth family, cultural heritage, community, and sense of self.
Foster carers need to actively promote the identity of all children in their care, and be particularly mindful of those from a different culture than themselves.
When children are removed from their family and taken into care, the state (in the form of the child’s local authority/trust acting as ‘corporate parent’) is responsible for making sure their rights are fulfilled and their needs are met.
However, in the current climate it appears that the children’s hair and physical appearance starts to decline. So while they’re having to manage and juggle the emotional difficulties of being placed in different home environments with different people, they’re also having to juggle and contend with the fact their physical needs are not being met which, for the child, leads to lack of self-esteem, lack of confidence and lack of racial esteem.
While every child has the right to have all their cultural, language and religious needs met, and should never have to lose any part of their identity when they enter foster care, key findings show that half of foster carers who have cared for a child of a different ethnicity, had not received any training to help them care for that child.
Sarah Livingstone explained: “I soon realised the boxes would not only serve as practical help, but an educational piece – I wanted to teach foster carers and young people themselves which products should be used, why and where to find them.”
Both Sarah and James are keen to emphasise the meaning behind each Replenish box, which are all ‘made with love.’
They explained that using these products and finding out about their benefits gives children and young people an opportunity to really think about their identity.
Sarah went on to say that “food, hair, skin, sounds, dialect and language are all part of a child’s identity. When they are in foster care, this identity must be maintained and their needs met.”
The Replenish boxes not only help them during this period of their life but will keep them connected with their heritage, which is very important when going into adulthood.
Children and young people have been kept at the heart of Replenish from the very start, and as the very people who would use them, they were involved in the design process.
Speaking of this experience, James said: “Hearing the children have conversations about their skin and haircare and working together to create the Replenish logo was a beautiful thing. They took so much pride in their work.”
This was echoed by Sarah who added: “We could see how well the children were interacting with each other – they could physically see the boxes and knew they were made especially for them.”
Not only this, but foster carers had given glowing feedback, which has emphasised the need for this support.
Invested in young peoples futures, Replenish recognises the importance of improving outcomes and mapping out better prospects for care leavers starts with developing a sense of self and identity.
Future plans include nationalising and rolling out Replenish to other local authorities – starting with the boxes, expanding on to workshops covering hair care, grooming and beauty, targeted at professionals, young people and foster carers to learn together, online tutorials and short form content, roundtables and online resources.
You can find out more about starting your own Replenish boxes or get involved with their work by contacting: ReplenishCulture@gmail.com
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