News

The Social Services Inspectorate has found that many ethnic minority service users are not getting the services they need, and for those in rural areas the problem is even more acute. Natalie Valios reports on how councils are tackling the problem.

Nowadays, most people living in rural areas can find a Chinese or Indian takeaway fairly locally. But, while you tuck into a plate of sweet and sour chicken or chicken tikka masala it is unlikely to cross your mind that the owners might be the only Chinese or Asian family in the area.

According to a Social Services Inspectorate report last year, social services departments are failing many ethnic minority families.¹ Social workers have difficulty in identifying child protection issues because they do not understand families' needs, it says. Reception and information services were unresponsive to those whose first language was not English.

The ability to provide appropriate services to ethnic minority groups has proved troublesome to social services departments in urban areas, where ethnic minorities often live in large, supportive communities. How much harder must it be to do this effectively in a large, rural, white dominated local authority, with small pockets of ethnic minority groups scattered across the area?

The 1991 census revealed that Dumfries & Galloway had about 1,200 people from ethnic minorities out of a population of 147,000. The local authority has now put together a multi-agency strategy and action plan around the themes of language and interpretation, raising awareness and training and information gathering and provision. The council has been carrying out small, low-key pieces of work, such as food hygiene training for those in the Chinese community who operate food premises and were interested in this issue.

As the census showed none of the ethnic minority population was over 60, the social services department is focusing on ethnic minority children and families, and it is doing this by collecting information and sensitising services.

Hampshire Council lost most of its staff expertise in working with people from ethnic minorities when Portsmouth and Southampton (which were previously part of Hampshire) became unitary authorities. Both areas had significant ethnic minority populations and Hampshire was left with pockets of good practice but little knowledge, says Mohammed Mossadaq, race policy adviser at Hampshire social services department.

In the last census, Hampshire had an ethnic minority profile of 0.01 per cent in some areas, and up to 4 per cent in others. Mossadaq estimates the new census will show this has risen to up to 6 per cent in some areas.

Hampshire did find a case of one Chinese family living in a village. Although staff could identify support groups in London or Brighton, they knew of nothing locally. To tackle this the council commissioned research which identified about 90 organisations claiming to support ethnic minority groups.

Past and present users from ethnic minorities were asked about services. Findings reflected last year's SSI report - in general they were happy, but there were common elements of communication issues and feelings of isolation.

"The biggest hurdle was that they hadn't known about the services, didn't understand what they were about and didn't know how to access them," says Mossadaq. But he stresses social services departments shouldn't go in all guns blazing just because they find an isolated ethnic minority family. "They will not necessarily need services, so it's a question of making sure they know where to go if they do."

Users shouldn't be boxed into specific services because they are Muslim, Hindu or Christian, he says. "People who come to us for services require the same sort of thing, regardless of their religion or culture. It's up to us to meet their needs and take into account their cultural needs."

Social workers must also be careful not to get too caught up with race, says Mossadaq. If a social worker gets a call from an older Asian person who says they're being abused by their son, they can be tempted to look at what is acceptable in the caller's culture. "It's important to take these things into account, but they shouldn't inhibit you from acting."

Alan Hodgson, acting service manager of Craven children's services at North Yorkshire social services department, can relate to that. He works with the Kashmiri community in Skipton, where cultural issues have cropped up. Although women in the Kashmiri community still wear customary dress, many have broken out of the traditional role, enrolling on college courses and learning to drive. Cultural clashes can arise when there is an arranged marriage between a woman educated in the UK and a young man from Kashmir. Slotting into modern European society can be difficult and there have been a couple of incidents of domestic violence.

This needs a certain amount of negotiation, says Hodgson. "We will not stand back and fail to implement our procedures because of culture and ethnicity. We have to put the culture on one side and recognise there are rights they should expect."

When this has happened, social services has been careful to involve community elders, saying they need to address these issues too. "The abuse of women is not something the Koran espouses either, and they fully support that," he says.

North Yorkshire, the largest county in England, has small pockets of ethnic minority communities throughout. The Kashmiri community in the ward of Skipton South West is the largest, with 250 people out of a population of 1,200. They were attracted to the area by the textile mill. Although this has since closed, this self-contained community has tended to meet its own needs, says Hodgson.

A couple of years ago, the local authority felt it wasn't having much contact with the community. To ensure it didn't stir up any racial tension, a multi-agency forum was set up, needs assessments carried out and questionnaires sent out to both the Asian and white community in Skipton - and the Broughton Road community development project was born, for all residents.

The Kashmiri population wanted advice in Punjabi. Substance misuse emerged as a major concern for parents - not because Asian young people were taking drugs, but because their white counterparts were, and they were worried this would influence their children.

They were also anxious about the availability of housing. Large families need large houses and they were worried the lack of suitable houses would mean that when their children left home, they would have to leave the area to find a house.

Cultural issues provided particular challenges for agencies working with girls and women. "It is difficult to suggest a youth club because of the sanctions about what girls can and can't do," says Hodgson. However, a multi-faith Brownie group has been running for over a year after the oath of allegiance was amended.

The overall standard of parenting and child care in the Kashmiri community is very good, says Hodgson, so only limited child protection is needed. But social services still has to overcome the hurdle of the misunderstanding about its work.

"If social services are seen going into a house it is assumed something bad is going on. That's an image we have to address because they don't fully understand what we are able to do and offer. Rumours are a barrier to using our services."

At the start of the project two years ago, Hodgson says he was surprised at the ignorance from the white community about the Muslim religion. To successfully work with isolated ethnic minority communities in rural areas, education is one of the most important points to address, he says, along with ensuring that you take the whole population into account and have sound communication between all parties.

As Mossadaq says: "When people with ethnic minority backgrounds truly feel they are part of the community as a whole, then we know we have done it."

¹ V O'Neale, Excellence not Excuses, Department of Health, 2000