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The Lower Mainland MCFD (Ministry of Children and Family Development) Muslim Advisory Committee

11-14-2021

This Committee began in the spring of 2007 to create a bridge between the Ministry of Children and Family Development (MCFD) and the Muslim Community.

A need was recognized to form this committee to deal with the growing number of Muslim children being placed in foster care.

There was a need for improving staff awareness of sensitive cultural, religious, racial, dietary needs and linguistic issues. As well as educating families about the support services available for them within their communities.

 

The Committee’s Mission is:

To promote a greater understanding of Muslim culture/religion and practices to the MCFD staff, as well as MCFD practices within the Muslim Communities.

To provide leadership in the area of Muslim culture and practices in the context of MCFD programs, child protection, child and youth mental health, guardianship, adoption, youth justice, children and youth with special needs and early childhood development. 

To provide recommendations and advice to the MCFD Executive Committee and regional leadership team on a range of issues relating to Muslim culture and practices

 

The membership includes: 

Muslim Advisory Committee

Members of the MCFD Fraser Region and Vancouver Coastal Executive Committee.

The activities are:

Providing culturally sensitive training on Islam (Islam101) to the MCFD and front line staff.

Providing information on MCFD services to Muslim children, youth and families.

Offering consultative services to MCFD staff on case practices, by request

Providing a resource for locating Islamic supports for families in their community.

Over 500 Social Workers, executive directors and front line staff attended the workshop in 2011-2012 with positive results

Recently there has been an increase in the number of refugee children being removed from their households and put into the care of the Ministry. In some cases up to 6-8 children were removed from one household and separated between different foster homes. These children are traumatized in their formative years and mentally scarred and exhibit anti-social behavior.  These are the results of poor parenting skills, neglect, and abuse. 

The slogan “Every Child Matters” not only relates to aboriginal children, but also our Muslim children who suffer similar fates being placed in foster care. 

The recent success came due to the Collaborative action of the Muslim Advisory Committee, the MCFD Staff and the community leaders. Most of the Social Workers and the Team Leaders were participants of the Workshop delivered on Muslim culture and competence training, provided by the Muslim Advisory Committee. 

There is an urgent need for Muslim foster homes in the Lower Mainland. We humbly request our community leaders, imams, and parents to consider opening their doors to foster children and providing a loving and nurturing Islamic environment. 

The Advisory Committee had hosted several Information Sessions on becoming Foster Parents. 

We will continue to host more Information Sessions in the future. It will be posted in Al-Ameen.

For more information on Foster Parenting or any issues relating on removal of children: -   

Please contact us at:

muslim-fc@outlook.com

or at 778-590-7672

We are in consultation and collaborate with:

Legal Aid (Vancouver & Surrey)

Al-Iman Centre (Surrey)

Imam Zijad Delic PhD Psychology

Shafik Mohammed – Dominion Law Firm

Azool Jaffer-Jeraj – DJJ Law Firm

This is a Volunteer Service to the Community.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our committee members are professionals from all walks of life with compassion, empathy, and dedicated to make a difference for a Muslim child. Each member is fluent in more than 3 languages. 

 

Farida Bano Ali (Retired)

RN/Registered Psychiatric Nurse, Forensic Nurse (UK)

Advocate on Mental health

 

David Ali (Retired)

Electrical Engineer (UK)

Public Relations

 

Fatima Nazeer

BA Sociology, Dipl. Counselling 

Student – Dipl. Psychology

 

Asma Talal Salim

Edu. Certificate in Islamic studies

BA Child and Youth Care Practitioner (UVIC)

Footnotes:

Article Source: ALAMEENPOST