Racism can be a significant factor in cases of abuse, although it is not in itself a category of abuse. Children and families from black and ethnic minority groups may have experienced harassment, racial discrimination and institutional racism and the experience of racism is likely to affect the responses of a child and family to assessment and enquiry processes.
Failure to consider the effects of racism will undermine efforts to protect children from other forms of significant harm.
The effects of racism differ for different communities and individuals, and should not be assumed to be uniform.
The specific needs of children of mixed parentage and refugee children should be given attention. In particular the need for neutral, high quality, gender appropriate translation or interpretation services should be taken into account when working with children and families whose first language is not English.
All organisations working with children, including those operating in areas where black and minority ethnic communities are numerically small, must address institutional racism, defined in the Macpherson Inquiry Report (2000) on Stephen Lawrence as “the collective failure by an organisation to provide an appropriate and professional service to people on account of their race, culture and/or religion”.
