News

A council that removed a black child from a white foster family who she had lived with for a year, and placed her with adoptive parents of the same race has been cleared of wrongdoing, writes Sally Gillen.

An independent inquiry into the case has concluded that Richmond Upon Thames council acted appropriately when it removed child X from her carers to be adopted by a couple who were friends of the child’s mother.

The decision was correct because it is a better for a young child to be adopted than placed in long-term foster care, and the child’s foster parents were unable to meet her developmental, emotional, ethnic, cultural, linguistic and religious needs, says the report.

But shortcomings in the council’s handling of the case have also been highlighted. These include failing to consider placing the child with her adoptive parents earlier before she became attached to her foster carers.

Social services also failed to adequately support the foster family, and they received little training, according to the report.

Council chief executive Gillian Norton said: "We accept that Mr and Mrs H were not sufficiently trained by us as foster parents. G was only the second child sent to them, and it is understandable that, without sufficient training, the Hs lacked full experience in dealing with a very emotional and highly charged situation."

The council has since changed its procedures and written a foster care handbook.