“Try not to place Turkish children with Belgian families”

Such families should be preferred over Belgian ones, the Turks say. The request comes after a Turkish boy, Yunus, was placed with Lesbian foster parents in the Netherlands.

The Flemish youth well-being organisation that is responsible for this matter says that it cannot meet this request from the Turkish authorities.

In the Netherlands Yunus was placed with Lesbian foster parents when he was only 4 months old. The Dutch authorities acted following allegations that the boy was being abused. The child is now 9 years old. His parents that have returned to Turkey want their boy returned to them, but the Dutch Lesbian couple that provided a home for him has gone to ground.

The Turkish Prime Minister is travelling to the Netherlands this week to talk through the matter.

The Turkish authorities have meanwhile also asked Belgium to give precedence to Turkish families over Belgian households when a foster parent is being sought.

The issue is the matter of keen debate in the Turkish media. Commentators say that it is unacceptable that Turkish children are placed with Christian and occasionally gay Christian families.

Karel Henderickx of the child well-being organisation Jongerenwelzijn told the daily De Standaard: “They think we do it on purpose: remove children from their families to turn them into Flemings or Belgians. It is not true!”

“We cannot accommodate the request from the Turkish authorities. Firstly, it is a youth magistrate who decides that a child will be removed from its family. Secondly, our task is to find suitable foster parents, who have done the training and meet the conditions. Though we always take account of cultural and religious considerations, we do not take account of nationality.”

[Flandersnews.be / Expatica]