At CCPAS we celebrate creativity and cultural diversity. I remember in my Sunday school days, being given a picture of a Caucasian Jesus with blue eyes and long blonde hair. Small furry animals contentedly nestled in his arms and chirruping birds perched on his shoulders - a very different image from this painting of an African Jesus, which incidentally is far more likely to be akin to how Jesus actually looked.

Living in a multi-cultural society is an enriching experience, but cultural traditions, western or otherwise, must not become an excuse for looking the other way where child protection issues are concerned. How can we find the right balance?

I was present at the filming of an interview for the new CCPAS 'Facing the Unthinkable' training DVD between David Pearson, Executive Director and Council of Management member, Caroline Comrie-Sinclair. Caroline is a social work manager and her principle role is ensuring that the cultural, racial and spiritual needs of 'looked after' children are met by the social services department so that the children's identity and heritage are preserved. She is also Youth Director for a black majority church in the West Midlands. The following is taken from their discussion and both David and Caroline started by agreeing that it is only from a basis of understanding that the all-important child protection issues can be addressed.

David: As Christians we share a common humanity but we are all different and sometimes we don't celebrate the differences sufficiently. I wonder whether Christians in particular would be more sensitive to the needs of children from different ethnic groups if we first understood a bit more about their lives.

Caroline: I endorse this whole-heartedly. If the church got to know families - parents, mothers, fathers, extended family members, then it would be able to better identify what is the norm for a family and what is different. Any help or support will only be effective when a relationship built on mutual respect and trust has been established.

David: The Children Act places a responsibility on social services in making provision for a family's religion, race and culture. How can the church meet these sorts of care needs?

Caroline: I feel the church has a head start because it is open 24/7 and can respond positively to any need, whether it's because someone is short of food, has a family crisis or needs someone to talk to. Social services is not open 24 hours a day and rarely at weekends, except for emergencies.

David: Sometimes people are reluctant to approach social services because of their perceptions about 'what will happen' if they ask for help.

Caroline: I agree. If the church is relating effectively to members, it's the best place to support families because they will know them well - mums, dads and extended family networks. Problems can arise when a family is experiencing difficulties and social services become involved. Sometimes a church will withdraw when the family needs it most and any family would understandably feel let down and even betrayed in such circumstances.

David: One of the basic problems is that often churches and social services department don't know or relate to each other until they have to i.e when things go wrong, and then there is a lot of mistrust on both sides. If there was a mutual understanding between a church and a social services department, both would benefit. Social services could tap into the resources and the support networks a church provides. The church would also benefit from having a contact person in social services they could turn to for help.

Caroline: I believe more can be done to make positive links on both sides. Perhaps the church could, for example, be open to lending out rooms to hire for social services use. Maybe a designated social worker could attend family services, get to know how the church operates and explore ways to work collaboratively.

David: During my experiences as a social work manager, I became acutely aware how situations can be misjudged when language and lifestyle are misinterpreted, when we haven't actually understood or we have misheard what has been said.

Caroline: I couldn't agree more. If someone hears a child say 'my mom beat me', the word 'beat' has to be interpreted correctly. Was it a light slap, as can often be the case, or was it really a beating? Another example of this is the term 'to slap mad'. Does this simply mean 'someone is cross with me' or has someone lost control? It is vital to establish exactly what a child really means before jumping to any premature conclusions.

Even more care needs to be taken when English is not a first language. In my own church there were a substantial number of French-speaking Africans within the congregation. We arranged for an interpreter to translate the service from English to French so they could understand what was being said. In fact this provision had such an impact on the young people they became eager to explore conversational French. The knock-on effect was that the French speakers in the congregation were keen to learn from the English-speakers and vice-versa.

David: Another area of misunderstanding is cultural differences in lifestyle.

Caroline: This is common. Where young children sleep in the same room as their parents, to a Western eye, this might seem inappropriate. In reality the family are caring and protecting their children according to their cultural traditions. Misunderstandings may also occur if, for example, a child is always accompanied by a grandparent to church or a church activity. Extended family networks are extremely common in certain cultures and a youth worker shouldn't feel they are doing anything wrong if they share information with that grandparent. Parents chose to bring up their children in different ways but we mustn't lose sight of the fact that abuse is abuse whatever the cultural tradition. Female circumcision, for example, is outlawed in the UK and it is also illegal to take a child to another country to have it done. It is so important to protect children from harm and in this instance UK law has taken an unequivocal stance against this abusive practice.

David: The Race Equality Unit said in evidence to the Victoria Climbie Inquiry 'there is some evidence to suggest that one of the consequences of an exclusive focus on culture in work with black children and families is that it leaves black and ethnic minority children in potentially dangerous situations because the (social services) assessment has failed to address the child's fundamental care and protection needs'.

Caroline: There is truth in this but the majority of black churches' response to revelations of incidents of abuse in their midst would be a sense of failure because they didn't spot what was happening and do something about it. They would certainly feel a deep sense of responsibility. Some churches have a real fear of social services and the police as well as how they would be perceived by the local community because child abuse is at such odds with the foundations of the Christian faith.

The fundamental principle for all faiths and organisations is to ensure they have a working child protection policy and this will go a long way to ensure children are protected from harm.

As can be seen from this interview, understanding race and culture is very important, particularly in light of the court case earlier this summer involving the conviction of three church-going adults found guilty of the ritualistic abuse of a 10 year-old girl from West Africa. We will be exploring the issues in future editions of Caring but for a more detailed response to the court case please see the article 'Ritualised Abuse and Media Myths' found on the following page.

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