– It’s like sending an ethnic Norwegian child to school without getting his hair done for a week. You think when you get the child back, “what has happened to you?”, says Jennifer Osei (30). She was born and raised in Norway and has roots from Ghana. As a former foster child, she is concerned that children should have the opportunity to know their culture and identity. But child protection does not know enough about different cultures, think psychological specialists news has spoken to. They are worried that it could lead to serious mistakes. Afro hair is an example of something about which there is too little knowledge, they believe. There is no overview of how extensive this problem is. – But I don’t think there is a village in Norway anymore that doesn’t have people with afro hair, says psychologist specialist Judith van der Weele. – Signs of neglect Hair types of African origin often require a little different and more care than the hair types of the majority population, Osei explains. She emphasizes that the fact that foster parents lack knowledge about afro hair is not meant to be bad, but that it is something people tend not to think about. ADAPT: Jennifer Osei believes it is important that foster parents receive good guidance from child protection to adapt to the ethnicity and culture of the child. Photo: Ida Yasin Andersen / news Osei says that she has seen and experienced that lack of hair care can be very disturbing for the biological parents when they meet their child again. Psychologist Judith van der Weele has long worked closely with families with minority families in connection with child protection. Weele believes that unkempt hair can be mistaken for neglect. – For biological parents who meet their children after being away from them for a while, and who see the unkempt hair, it is an immediate and clear sign of neglect. That the children live in a place where there is someone who does not care about them. – Is that right then? – Not at all, the children very often get good care, there are good foster homes, but this is exactly what they can’t do, says Weele. She sees that children over time become ashamed, embarrassed, cover their hair and say they don’t care. – But I see that they actually care. UJAMT: Psychological specialist Judith van der Weele believes that there are no equal services for minority children in child welfare. Photo: Stig Jaarvik / news Cultural rights “All children have cultural rights”, it says on the website of the Directorate for Children, Youth and Families (Bufdir). They define cultural rights as “safeguarding children’s ethnic, religious, cultural and linguistic background”. Weele, on the other hand, believes that these cultural rights are often not secured well enough in practice. In an article from 2020, she states that “Lack of cultural competence in investigative work harms children.” She receives support from psychologist specialist Heidi Wittrup Djup at the Clinic for Crisis Psychology in Bergen. Consequences of a lack of cultural knowledge, Djup explains, can be that the foster child is not allowed to participate in important celebrations, or that adequate arrangements are not made for the child to be able to retain his mother tongue. It is serious because over time it can mean that children and parents cannot communicate well enough, she explains. – I have read thousands of pages of documents where the word “culture” is not mentioned once, even though it is clearly a relevant point in the case. SPECIALIST: Djup has worked for several years as a child expert for the child protection services and for the court. Photo: Alrik Velsvik Bufdir emphasizes to news that it is the responsibility of child protection to make arrangements for children to meet their needs related to culture, language and religion. – And I, as a professional directorate, do something nationally to contribute to strengthening the competence in these services. We have our own further education that catches up with the youth, we have training for the services, we have training for those who want to become foster parents, and we work all the time to achieve an exchange of skills in families and networks, says divisional director Kjetil Andreas Ostling in Bufdir. Djup believes that knowledge about culture in child protection varies greatly from town to town. – I have seen a great deal of good work in child protection, but I have also seen major shortcomings that have led the case down a wild path, says Djup. – Must adapt to the ethnicity of the child IMPORTANT: Osei’s emergency shelter was good at finding the right help for her hair. As an adult, she has realized how important it was to her identity. Photo: private Both Weele and Djup point to afro hair as part of their cultural competence. Osei experienced that the emergency shelter she lived in as a child took her hair seriously. They got tips from the biological mother about where they could get help to braid it. He is very grateful for that. For many, however, the matter is different, according to Osei. She says that she has worked at a school and has seen adopted children whose hair screams for help. – You have to adapt to the ethnicity of the child, she says and continues: – The hair tells where I come from, it’s not just appearance, it’s also culture and identity, she says. See more about hair in the series “Krøll”: As a child, Auriane hated her hair. Why are there so many feelings connected to hair?
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– Serious burden on children – news Culture and entertainment
