The mother of the five-year-old ‘Christian’ girl who complained her daughter had been placed with Muslim foster carers was herself born into the Islamic faith.

Court documents released on Wednesday show the girl’s maternal grandparents “are of a Muslim background but are non practising”.

Her mother had protested that her daughter is a Christian and should never have been placed with devout Muslim foster parents.

The dispute has caused a furore amid allegations the child’s foster carers had taken a necklace from her that contained a cross and refused to allow her to eat her favourite meal - spaghetti carbonara - because it contained pork products.

Tower Hamlets Council, which had taken the child into care after concerns for her safety were raised by police, said it did not recognise the claims.

The court papers show the girl was placed with foster carers who were “not culturally matched” because of the urgent need to find a safe home for her.

On Wednesday, Sir Martin Narey, the Government’s official adviser on fostering, intervened to insist it would be wrong to ban carers from looking after children just because they were a different religion or ethnicity.

Sir Martin told The Telegraph he will publish a fostering report at the end of the year which will make ethnicity and religion of carers a ‘secondary’ issue. Sir Martin said: “Skin colour and religion do not matter in 2017.”