Many children needing foster care are from ethnic minorities.

In choosing the right foster carer for children, agencies have a legal duty to consider a child's religion, racial origin, cultural background and first language.

They try to match up families and children of similar backgrounds but often this is difficult to achieve because of the low number of ethnic minority carers compared to the number of children of different racial backgrounds being looked after by local authorities.

Foster carers who are asked to care for a child with a different racial and cultural identity to them need to be sensitive to their background. Carers may benefit from learning about and reading up on different cultures.

You should also discuss with the child's social worker how best to address the child's needs. There may be practical considerations, too. For instance, for some children their religion may mean they cannot eat certain kinds of foods.

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