SOCIAL services are inspecting themselves to see if they are guilty of institutional racism.
Bosses are determined to make sure they do not inadvertently discriminate against children and families from ethnic minorities.
They are acting in the wake of the McPherson Report following the death of Stephen Lawrence. The report said that other agencies, not just the police, may suffer from institutional racism and that inaction by councils was not an option.
National social services inspectors say that most councils do not have strategies to deliver appropriate services to ethnic minorities.
In Bury there are 7,518 South Asian residents, along with 922 Afro-Caribbean residents and 505 Chinese. Other people such as Eastern Europeans and Jews, while not officially classed as ethnic minorities, may also have unmet needs.
Bosses in Bury say that these needs must be taken into account. Families seeking support may have difficulty getting it, especially if their first language is not English. There may also be problems of "unintended barriers" concerning food, provision of information, and the knowledge of reception staff.
Children needing to be placed with a foster family may have little choice where to go because there are insufficient foster carers from ethnic minorities.
The council is to set up a working group to look at these issues, and will report to future meetings.
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