European Muslim Initiative

Press Release –

Situation regarding children under protection in Netherlands

Strasbourg, 17 March 2013

Deputy Prime Minister of Netherlands, Mr Asscher has stated that it should be normal to give children of ethnic and religious minorities to gay and Lesbian protector families. He went further and openly suggested that Holland have to build a statue to honor the courage of that gay family, which took the Turkish children under its protection.

EMISCO supports all native European families who selflessly offer their services to provide a safe home and comfortable living environment to minority children, who suffer from violence, oppression and lack of care at their biological parents’ homes.

For us at EMISCO, the welfare of all children, including ethnic and religious minorities – their possibility for a good education and loving up bringing is Alpha and Omega for the continuation of a harmonious society.

At the same time, the society has to take into consideration the following, when it comes to children with minority background. While removing children from minority families, every effort by the authorities must be taken to avoid making mistakes based on prejudiced understanding of non-European cultural norms, religion of the children, perceived parental control and testimonies of children alone.

When a case is thoroughly researched and the authenticity of the case is established beyond doubt, children should be placed with such caretaker families who have the same or comparable cultural, normative and religious background. This will help the children to continue their life in familiar circumstances and they will feel safe. If it is not possible, the alternative families should be informed about the needs of children – food, language, religious practices and social norms. This will make it easier to come back to their original families without losing their habits, traditions and mother tongue.

There are many examples throughout Europe, where Muslim children are placed with native families who try to make them –intentionally or otherwise a copy of themselves. It is proved that more than half of such children lose their mother tongue proficiency as well as their religious and cultural identity.

We believe that the primary concern here should be about the upbringing of the fostered child without any potential conflict with his/her cultural and religious background.  Therefore, it is legitimate to say that it is not the very gender or ethnic identity of the fostering couple in itself that is questioned here but the psychological well-being of the child that is an issue of concern. It is common sense concern that a fostered child under such parenting which is totally and categorically different than his/her religious & cultural background is very likely to be estranged from his cultural background. In this way it becomes also a straight human rights issue. When communities raise concern, politicians are not expected to `take side` but elaborate on a fair solution, in this case, the psychological well-being of the child. We are talking about the reality of social diversity and how to preserve that. We have to respect each other’s identity. For example, Muslim children do not eat Pork, while for native European homes, this is a staple food.

EMISCO is well aware that such cases are very complicated but we appeal that all such protection processes should be organized with deep attention for the security of the children and respect for their religious and cultural values.