Mixed Race Studies

Parenting ‘mixed’ children: difference and belonging in mixed race and faith families

Joseph Rowntree Foundaton
2008-06-20

Chamion Caballero, Senior Research Fellow
Families & Social Capital Research Group
London South Bank University 

Rosalind Edwards, Professor in Social Policy
Families and Social Capital Research Group
London South Bank University

Shuby Puthussery, Senior Research Fellow
Family and Parenting Institute

Insights into parenting ‘mixed’ children.

More and more is known about the ‘mixed’ population of Britain – those brought up in families with different racial, ethnic and faith backgrounds. But less is known about their parents. Who are they and what are their experiences of bringing up their children?

This report aims to provide insights about parenting mixed children to inform debates about family life and professional strategies for support. Focusing on mothers and fathers living together, it:

• Investigates how parents from different racial, ethnic and/or faith backgrounds give their children a sense of belonging and identity.
• Examines parents’ approaches to cultural difference and how they pass on aspects of belonging and heritage across generations.
• Explores the opportunities, constraints, challenges and tensions in negotiating a sense of identity and heritage between parents.

Click here for the 4 page summary.
Click here for the 76 page full report.

Mixed Heritage – Identity, Policy and Practice

Runnymede Trust
ISBN-10: 0-9548389-6-3
ISBN-13: 978-0-9548389-6-6
EAN: 9780954838966
40 pages
September 2007

Edited by Jessica Mai Sims

Although they are often invisible in debates on race and ethnicity, the 2001 census reveals that the ‘Mixed’ population is the third largest ethnic category in the UK, with predictions that it will become the single largest minority group recognised by the Census by the end of 2020.

Over the summer months we have developed our thinking on this area of study through a seminars, roundtables, and conferences by partnering with the CRE, CLG, and London South Bank’s Families and Social Capital Research Group. Through this partnership we have established the following series of activity that forms that basis for future work on mixed heritage, which seeks to challenge the prevalent understandings and assumptions of the people who are thought to comprise of this group.

Table of Contents

• Foreword – Rob Berkeley

1. Statistics: The Mixed Category in Census 2001 — Charlie Owen
2. The Diversity of ‘the’ Mixed Race Population in Britain — Miri Song
3. Gendering Mixed-Race, Deconstructing Mixedness — Suki Ali
4. Thai-British Families: Towards a Deeper Understanding of ‘Mixedness’ — Jessica Mai Sims
5. Meeting the Educational Needs of Mixed Heritage Pupils: Challenges for Policy and Practice — Leon Tikly
6. Mixed Heritage: Perspectives on Health and Welfare — Mark R. D. Johnson
7. Adoption and Fostering Issues: ‘Judgement of Solomon’ — Savita de Sousa & John Simmonds
8. ‘Mixed’ Families: Assumptions and New Approaches — Chamion Caballero
9. It’s Time for Foundation — Sharron Hall
10. I loathe the term ‘mixed race’… — Linda Bellos
11. People in Harmony — Jill Olumide

• Biographical Information on Contributors
• Bibliography

Read the entire document here.