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Professor Sariya Cheruvallil-Contractor and her team make the case for a more nuanced approach to care that supports the complex identity needs of minoritised children.

“How might a baby express itself? How would this differ from a teenager’s expression of their identity?”, Dr John Simmonds, Director of Research at CoramBAAF asked attendees at our report launch for Expressions of self.

These “expressions of self” which strengthen family bonds, can be fraught and negotiated – think about a young child’s tantrum as it demands attention in the middle of a busy supermarket or a teenager’s hormone-fuelled rebellion. Consider also how adults react in these moments.

When a child or young person is placed in care, these negotiations can influence whether a child feels at home or out of place. Our research explores how factors such as ethnicity and religion interact with each other and with characteristics like gender, age, sexuality and in this case, their experience of being in care. We’re interested in how these contribute to a child’s identity.

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