By CAMERON LUCADOU-WELLS
CHILDREN in the south east are at risk of losing their cultural identity and becoming part of a “stolen generation” due to a lack of diversity among foster carers, says a foster care advocate.
Faisal Haroon is part of Care With Me – a group that recently held a forum in Dandenong trying to lift the number of foster carers from culturally diverse, particularly Muslim, backgrounds.
Foster carers house and care for children who cannot live with their families.
Mr Haroon says children are being rescued “off the street” because of cultural clashes with their well-meaning but culturally mismatched foster parents.
“If you look at the foster care system, a lot of the volunteers and carers and are from Anglo-Saxon background, not very diverse. “We don’t want to have a repeat of the whole stolen generation.
“It can mean a situation where the child is the only translator for the whole family, comes into foster care and then goes out after an year or so and not being able to speak their first language.
“It ends up in disaster when they are not able to communicate with the parents who can’t speak English.
“You can imagine what impact foster care may have on the wider community where people think that foster care is about taking children and removing them from their culture.”
Mr Haroon said the group’s forums were hearing of constant calls from carers seeking help in understanding their foster child’s culture.
“The biggest one is when the child is not helped to maintain their identity, they act out and placements break down.
“The reason is children think they’ve been put into a household where their identity and culture is not respected.
‘’Sometimes children don’t understand the discipline structure where they expect the foster parent to be strict whereas the parents are more lenient and flexible, letting the child do what they want.”
Generally, foster carer numbers are in decline.
Care With Me says that more than 1000 foster carers are urgently needed in Victoria.
Mr Haroon said children as young as six unable to be placed in a foster home, but instead living in group homes or residential units with other unplaced children or those from “broken placements”.
“This makes the situation more complex and unsettling for them,” Mr Haroon said.
He said it was important to protect children’s cultural identity so they know how to engage with their community as adults.
Otherwise, more children would fall into the juvenile justice system because they are outcast from “both sides of the community”.
According to Wesley Mission Victoria, volunteer foster carers from all CALD backgrounds – and with a spare bedroom – were needed.
A spokeswoman said volunteers’ safe and caring homes could change children’s lives for the better – whether it’s for a month or longer.
Foster carers get accredited training and 24-hour ongoing support, with tax-free financial reimbursements to help meet the young person’s living costs.
If you can help, visit Care With Me on cwme.org.au or phone 13000 829 335, or go to Wesley Mission Victoira, 280 Thomas Street, Dandenong.
Details on 9794 3000 or wesley.org.au.
