Supporting Children’s Culture and Identity in Fostering

Identity, culture and belonging matter for every child. Feeling recognised, understood and respected for who you are helps children grow with confidence and security.

For children in foster care, foster carers play an important role in actively supporting a child’s race, culture, faith and background through everyday actions at home.

With February marking the start of Chinese New Year, the beginning of Ramadan, and Race Equality Week, it’s a good time to reflect on how fostering can support children to stay connected to who they are and feel proud of it.

Why race and culture matter

Race and culture shape how children see themselves and how they experience the world. When these parts of a child’s identity are recognised and respected, children are more likely to feel they belong and that they are valued for who they are.

In fostering, this means recognising that children bring their own histories, traditions and identities with them, and that these should be supported as part of everyday family life.

What supporting identity looks like in practice

Supporting a child’s race and culture does not mean knowing everything straight away. What matters is being open, asking questions and being willing to learn, and showing through everyday actions that a child’s identity is important.

This can look like:

• Supporting a child to take part in religious practices that matter to them, such as fasting during Ramadan or attending a place of worship

• Marking cultural celebrations like Chinese New Year in ways that feel meaningful to the child

• Learning about a child’s background and what is important to them and their family

• Making space at home for familiar food, hair and skin care, language, music or clothing

• Encouraging children to feel proud of who they are and where they come from

• Helping children stay connected to school, friendships and their local community where possible

  
  

These everyday actions help children feel seen and respected. 

'We support the children we care for to feel they belong, through life story work, helping them to talk about birth families, looking at photos together, having their photos on show with our own family photos and celebrating their strengths. Training on life story work and having regular conversations with our supervising social worker has been really beneficial with us supporting children in care with their identity.' - Michelle, foster carer

We also provide practical support to foster carers, including cultural holiday payments, to help families mark important religious and cultural occasions in ways that work for them and the child they care for.

Could you support children in Rotherham to be themselves, feel they belong, and grow with confidence? 

Book a call back with a member of our team to talk about fostering: here.