Executive Summary
This report examines the challenging relationship between Islam and fostering and adoption in the UK, and efforts currently being made to address it. Through an analysis of extant literature and data from a small-scale pilot study based on interviews with foster care agencies, this report firstly explains why an influx of immigrant children and a growing local Muslim population mean that it is important to focus on fostering and adoption in Muslim communities. It then considers the need for research in this area to look specifically at religion, before subsequently looking explicitly at current care policies and the recruitment and retention of Muslim carers. The report also discusses potential reasons why Muslim children enter care, and the challenges faced by those who become foster carers. It makes policy recommendations centred on the need to make the current system more transparent, and to provide more support to carers.
