NCH Black Families adoption service

NCH, the children’s charity has launched NCH Black Families, an innovative adoption service set up to find safe and loving homes for children from Black Minority and Ethnic (BME) communities across the country.

There is a shortage of BME adopters in the UK, for every prospective black or mixed parentage adoptive home, there are three children hoping to be chosen. To meet this need NCH has developed NCH Black Families, a service that successfully recruits adopters from BME communities by addressing barriers such as language and ensuring that service staff reflect a diverse cultural range so that potential adopters know their heritage and background will be understood.

NCH Black Families is based on NCH’s pilot project NCH London Black Families which was established in 2003 and has been a great success, placing over 50 children with safe and loving families. By expanding the service to the Midlands and the North of England NCH hopes to be able to provide stable homes for more children of BME heritage across the country.

The launch of the project, which takes place during National Adoption Week (November 5 – 9), follows research from the charity that found that more than two in five people (42 per cent) from BME communities think that they aren’t eligible for adoption. The National Adoption Survey 2007 found that:

• Nearly a third thought that unmarried couples couldn’t adopt (31 per cent)
• Nearly half thought that if you had a disability you couldn’t adopt (48 per cent)
• More than three in five thought that age was a barrier to adoption (62 per cent)
• Nearly half surveyed thought that if you were single you couldn’t adopt (47 per cent)

Sue Cotton, Adoption Manager, at NCH says, “It is harder to recruit adopters from BME communities partly because they think they aren’t eligible to adopt and partly due to the reluctance of BME adults to approach social services departments. At NCH Black Families we actively engage with the BME Communities to overcome these issues and encourage more people to adopt.”

“Our pilot project in London has been a great success, placing over 50 children with safe and loving families since we were established in 2003. By expanding the service to the Midlands and the North of England we hope to be able to provide stable homes for more children of BME heritage across the country but we urgently need more people to come forward and consider adopting to help us do this.”

During Adoption Week NCH, the children’s charity is calling on people from BME communities to come forward and consider adopting. If you are interested in finding out more about adopting through NCH Black Families visit the NCH adoption pages or call 0845 603 3398.

The Prostate Cancer Charity’s African Caribbean postcard campaign

Wives, daughters, grandmothers, aunts, sisters, mothers and nieces – tell your husbands, sons, grandfathers, uncles, brothers, fathers and nephews. African Caribbean men are three times more likely to develop prostate cancer than their white counterparts.To mark the start of the summer holiday season, The Prostate Cancer Charity is launching its first campaign targeting African and African Caribbean women, with the support of Diane Abbott MP.

The Charity is pioneering a new nationwide awareness campaign by sending 20,000 free postcards to key locations including beauty salons, social groups and African Caribbean supermarkets.

The Prostate Cancer Charity believes that empowering African Caribbean women with information could put them in a stronger position to talk to the men in their lives about prostate cancer – the most common cancer to affect UK men which kills one man every hour.

Diane Abbot, MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, said: “I have long been a campaigner on issues relating to black health and in particular those concerning African Caribbean men. I fully support the work the Charity is doing to help raise awareness of the disease amongst the African Community in the UK and wish them every success with this campaign. Knowing where to turn for good information and support is the first step available to us women in dealing with the effects this devastating disease can have on the men in our lives.”

The Prostate Cancer Charity is inviting women to fill in a postcard with their address and return it to The Prostate Cancer Charity. On receipt of the card, the Charity will send out a free guide to prostate cancer with information about how to find out more if they know someone who has concerns.

Ali Orhan, Community Involvement Manager at The Prostate Cancer Charity, said: “We have been working specifically with African and African Caribbean communities to raise awareness of prostate cancer for three years. I have been very encouraged by all the support we have received. The simple fact is that African Caribbean men are three times more likely to develop prostate cancer than their white counterparts. So, it is vital to make as much noise as possible about prostate cancer.

“This campaign is a direct response to what people have been telling us they need. Although only men can get prostate cancer, we know women can play an important role in ensuring that the men in their lives are given the best possible chance of beating the disease by knowing more about the risk factors involved and being proactive if they have concerns.”

For more information go to www.prostate-cancer.org.uk/news/news_detail.asp?id=1038

If you are interested in ordering the postcards for yourself, friends & colleagues or perhaps for an event you are organising, please contact Ali Orhan at The Prostate Cancer Charity on 020 8222 7654.

Promote people not stereotypes

The Equal Opportunities Commission’s new Promote people not stereotypes campaign aims to bust myths about ethnic minority women at work. Designed to take the messages from our recent Moving on up? investigation into Bangladeshi, Pakistani and Black Caribbean women’s employment out to a bigger audience, our campaign resources include:

• Mythbuster leaflet
• Be inspired booklet of positive role models
• Key statistics report
• A3 posters featuring a fire officer, an engineer and a chief executive

Visit www.eoc.org.uk/bme to find out more about the campaign and download these resources.

Who inspired you? Many people said they would like to see more positive role models of black and Asian women. Our campaign features a few, but the Equal Opportunities Commission would like you to tell them about the women who inspired you. Visit www.eoc.org.uk/bme to find out more.

A related project: The Fawcett Society has set up a three year programme to promote the voices, needs and interests of ethnic minority women so that changes in policy and practice deliver real improvements to their lives. For more details search ‘Seeing Double’ on www.fawcettsociety.org.uk

Black Minority Ethnic (BME) women’s experiences in the workplace in the North West

Aim of the study:
The Centre for Equality and Diversity at Work, Manchester Business School in collaboration with the European Social Fund are conducting a research study, specifically aimed at examining the experiences of Black Minority Ethnic (BME) women who have either experienced or witnessed (of another BME woman), the following sexual harassment behaviours at work in the past five years:

• visual (leering);
• verbal (sexual teasing, jokes, comments or questions);
• unwanted pressure for sexual favours or dates;
• unwanted touching or pinching;
• unwanted pressure for sexual favours, with implied threats of job
• related consequences for non co-operation;
• physical assault;
• sexual assault.

Sexual harassment can take many forms including face-to-face, over the telephone, (verbally or text based), and via email (Stanko, 1988)

Despite the importance of sexual harassment as a barrier to employment, very little is known about the experiences of Black Minority Ethnic (BME) women. In today’s diverse society, an understanding of these issues is imperative, to ensure that all vulnerable groups in the workplace are protected. It is essential to understand BME women’s experiences of sexual harassment as developing this insight will help to ensure that effective workplace policies an training are implemented and delivered, and that the largely ignored issues of sexual harassment and BME women in UK organisations are addressed.

Who are we looking for and what does it involve?
We are looking for Black Minority Ethnic (BME) women who live or have worked in the North West who have experienced or witnessed (i.e. of another BME female) any of the behaviours at work listed above in the past five years to take part in a face to face interview or telephone with a trained, experienced researcher, to discuss their experiences. We appreciate this is a sensitive area and we are keen to assure participants that all information will be confidential and anonymous. If you would like to participate in this important, groundbreaking study, one of the project team will contact you to arrange a convenient date, time and place to conduct the interview. We very much value your participation and as an appreciation of this, we will make the final report and recommendations available to you upon request.

If you are interested in participating in this rewarding study please contact the research team on:

Tel: 0161 306 3499 or email jackie.kan@mbs.ac.uk