Allegations made in the national press about a girl placed with Muslim foster carers have been roundly rejected in the findings of an official investigation seen by the Guardian.

In August, claims that the five-year-old, described as a “white Christian”, had been left distressed after being placed in a Muslim household became the focus of a political and media furore. The allegations emerged from a family court case over the future of the child’s custody.

But an investigation by a senior social worker at Tower Hamlets council did not find evidence to support any of the allegations, which were made by the child’s mother and published in the Times in an article headlined: “Christian child forced into Muslim foster care.” [paywall]

“Although the mother disputes the findings, the local authority is satisfied that at all times the foster carers provided warm and appropriate care to the child,” a report on the investigation’s findings says.

“The local authority has been impressed with the care and commitment shown by the carers to the child. This is reflected in the child’s description and reaction to the carers and the MGM’s [maternal grandmother’s] positive relationship with them.”

Among the allegations published in the Times were claims one of the foster carers wore a burqa, the child was banned from eating pork products and had her crucifix forcibly removed, all of which were said to have left the child distressed.

The document reveals that after the allegations were published in the Times, supervised conversations were held with the child and she wrote a letter to the judge involved in the court case in which “she expressed always being happy in the placement”.

The child was placed in two Muslim households as a temporary measure, while her maternal grandmother, who was also Muslim, awaited approval for custody.

With regards to claims about burqas being worn, the investigation found the original foster carer, with whom the child spent the most time, wears a hijab – not a niqab or a burqa.

The child’s second foster carer wears a burqa in public but not in her home and her husband is a white British Muslim, the report says.

Dealing with claims about the child’s crucifix, the investigation found the child had two crucifixes, one of which was in the child’s bedroom in the maternal grandmother’s country of origin.

The other was a large gold piece of jewellery that belonged to the child’s great grandmother, but the second foster carer was concerned its size and value was not appropriate for a child so returned it to the child’s maternal grandmother, the report says. This was seen by the social worker at the grandmother’s home.

Tower Hamlets found there had been no rejection of food brought for the child by the mother for religious reasons.



An allegation that the child was distressed as the foster carer spoke only in Arabic was found not to be correct, the report says.

The foster carer’s first language is Arabic but her husband is white British, born in the UK, while her childrens’ first language is English and that is the language of the home.

Claims the foster carer had made derogatory statements about European women to the child was not substantiated, the report says, adding the social worker found that the child did not know what Europe was.

The maternal grandmother was “distressed and angered” by the allegations against the foster carers which she said were “false and lies”, the report adds.

“She has a good relationship with the carers and is grateful for the excellent care she says that they have provided to the child,” it reads.

Previous court hearings on Monday also heard that the child was of dual nationality. She was christened but was not taken to church by her mother or anyone else, the court heard. Her maternal grandparents are Muslim and while they do not attend mosque, they do pray at home, the court was told.

The Times initially reported that, according to confidential local authority reports, a social services supervisor had described the child crying, asking not to be returned to one foster carer because “they don’t speak English”.

The report, seized on by far-right activists, included a pixelated photograph of the girl in the company of a woman – alleged to be her foster carer – wearing a black niqab or burqa.

The Daily Mail followed by putting the story on its front page under the headline “MPs’ anger as Christian girl forced into Muslim foster care”. It used a stock picture of a Muslim family to illustrate the story in print and online, but altered the image to cover the woman’s face with a veil.

