Of the 152 councils across England approached by the Sun newspaper, only 73 provided details of cross-religious fostering involving Christians and Muslims.
Reacting to the figures, Christian foster carer from Worcester Timothy Crow said local authorities usually strive to match youngsters with culturally and religiously similar families.
Mr Crow, who had fostered more than 40 youngsters with his wife during a 25-year period, told Premier: “Something hits the headlines about a Muslim child in a Christian family or a Christian child in a Muslim family…
“Sometimes it’s actually just a necessary provision for a few weeks while they’re sorting out something longer-term.”
The Sun speculated that figures for cross-religious fostering in England could be “far higher” than the figures suggest, given 79 authorities refused to take part in the survey.
The tabloid’s investigation comes after controversy surrounding the placement of a “Christian” girl with Muslim foster family in Tower Hamlets.
The east London borough’s mayor later defended the local authority’s foster placement selection process, saying it looked “very carefully at the appropriate matching” and chose fosterers who could look after the child at a “very traumatic time”.
In releasing its findings, the Sun did not specify its definition of “Christian”.
According to recent statistics by the British Social…
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