{"id":6856,"date":"2024-01-28T17:17:40","date_gmt":"2024-01-28T21:17:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/yemeniamerican.com\/en\/?p=6856"},"modified":"2024-01-28T17:31:03","modified_gmt":"2024-01-28T21:31:03","slug":"muslim-foster-children-in-michigan-need-homes-mentors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yemeniamerican.com\/en\/muslim-foster-children-in-michigan-need-homes-mentors\/","title":{"rendered":"Muslim foster children in Michigan need homes, mentors"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Nargis Rahman<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

There are hundreds of thousands of kids in foster care across the country. There\u2019s often an effort to place children in families of the same ethnicity or similar cultural or religious backgrounds, but at times that can be difficult to do \u2014 especially in Michigan for Muslim kids.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Now there\u2019s a push to change that.<\/p>\n

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Looking for a sense of belonging<\/strong><\/p>\n

Najla Almayaly entered the foster care system at 13 years old when her parents divorced. She and her three sisters were separated as a result. Now 20 years old, she has lived in seven foster homes, five of which were not Muslim.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was no halal food. There was no going to the masjid on Friday. There was no salat, no what I was used to,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Almayaly says she felt that her non-Muslim foster parents didn\u2019t care about her religion. Food was not prepared a certain way, she didn\u2019t go to the mosque for the traditional Friday prayer. She wasn\u2019t comfortable wearing hijab to cover her hair.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt like I wasn\u2019t home,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

About 240,000 Muslims live in Michigan.<\/p>\n

Jessica Sweet recruits foster parents for the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. She says the state doesn\u2019t collect religious information when placing children in foster care, which is why many Muslim kids end up in non-Muslim homes.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, it really is based on, the anecdotal information that we\u2019re getting, reaching out to county offices and having them hand count this information and send it to us,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Sameena Zahoor became a foster parent in 2012, after learning about the need from a sermon at her local mosque.<\/p>\n

Her friend, lifelong educator Ranya Shbeib, became licensed in 2015.<\/p>\n

Shbeib says they realized many people were not aware there was a need for Muslim foster parents.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were some gaps within the foster care system and the Muslim community. And with my fostering experience, I knew that with the insight that I had as a foster parent, Sameena and I could work to bridge those gaps,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why they created the Muslim Foster Care Association in 2016.<\/p>\n

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MFCA works with placement agencies to find Muslim homes, train non-Muslim parents and the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services staff.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Finding homes for Muslim children in foster care<\/strong><\/p>\n

Shbeib says there are only about 10 licensed Muslim foster care homes in the state while her organization serves more than 200 Muslim foster care kids every year.<\/p>\n

Zahoor says its work expanded quickly from making holiday Eid baskets and care packages at the end of Ramadan to working with federal and state agencies to do a better job of placing Muslim children.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was sort of like a grassroots. We would do these panel discussions, we go to different communities, and then people are saying, \u2018well, where can we find out more information,’\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Last November about 300 current and potential foster parents gathered at the Soho Banquet & Event Center in Westland to learn more.<\/p>\n

Mona Musaid, MFCA\u2019s domestic foster care program coordinator, says the fundraiser was also held to help break the stigma surrounding foster care. She says persuading Muslim families to become licensed foster care homes is a challenge because the system can be intrusive.<\/p>\n

Children are always under watch . Caregivers<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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are always in and out of the home, therapists, licensing workers. And it\u2019s very hard for the foster family to adjust to that lifestyle,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

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Ranya Shbeib is a co-founder of the Muslim Foster Care Association.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Taking the next step<\/strong><\/p>\n

The state does work with the association to train staff and families regardless of their background.<\/p>\n

Shbeib says Muslims can step up to do more.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s so much to talk about in this area of foster care. And, in Islam, it\u2019s part of our faith tradition,\u201d she said. \u201cBut unfortunately, it\u2019s not something that we\u2019re at the forefront of, and we want the Muslim community to be at the forefront of foster care.\u201d<\/p>\n

She encourages more Muslims to take the first step by volunteering or becoming a mentor to Muslim children.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/wdet.org\/2024\/01\/26\/muslim-foster-children-in-michigan-need-homes-mentors\/<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nargis Rahman There are hundreds of thousands of kids in foster care across the country. There\u2019s often an effort to place children in families of the same ethnicity or similar cultural or religious backgrounds, but at times that can be difficult to do \u2014 especially in Michigan for Muslim kids. Now there\u2019s a push to […]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6857,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yemeniamerican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yemeniamerican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yemeniamerican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yemeniamerican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yemeniamerican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6856"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/yemeniamerican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6856\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6865,"href":"https:\/\/yemeniamerican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6856\/revisions\/6865"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yemeniamerican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yemeniamerican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yemeniamerican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yemeniamerican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}