Catholic, Muslim groups partner to expand available
families, cope with rising need

CANTON — In recent months, Muslim Family Services (MFS) in
both Detroit and Canton have seen an increase in the number of Muslim children
who are in need of a foster family.

“More and more we are seeing that Muslim children are
in need of foster parents, for whatever reason — if their parents pass away or
the state intervenes for some reason. They are going to other families, not to
Muslim families, because there aren’t many (Muslim foster families) registered
in the state of Michigan,” said Faatimah Davis, office manager at the MFS
Detroit location.

To remedy this situation, Muslim Family Services has
partnered with Catholic Social Services to give Muslim families the chance to
become registered foster families in the state of Michigan. Last year this
training was held at the Muslim Community of the Western Suburbs (MCWS) office,
the western division of Muslim Family Services, located in Canton.

MCWS itself was founded in 1977 as a singular group or
organization.  A group of young
American Muslims living in the western suburbs worried about their children,
who were at risk of losing their Muslim identity. Their concern was not just
abstract. They had seen families who had lost their Muslim values and
identities.

MCWS became a part of Muslim Family Services (MFS) after it
was founded in 1998 by a group of people who were part of the Islamic Circle of
North America, a relief organization. 
Dr. Ali Suleiman, director of MFS and one of the founding members, feels
that it is a one of a kind organization here in Michigan

“We deal primarily with marriage issues and helping the
needy with bills and so on. This was the purpose of the organization when it
was founded, but we help people who have problems with children in foster care,
with domestic abuse and other such things.”

Imam Suleiman is happy about the partnership with Catholic
Family Services, as it will address a huge need in the community.

“We are working with Catholic Social Services as a
partner and this year the training is six weeks. Anyone who is interested can
call us and we will tell them the time and the place. It is only six weeks,
once a week,” Suleiman said.

“They’re the ones who will license the parents,”
said Davis. “We are trying to get as many families to register as we can
and plan a date to get the initial orientation. DHS does an orientation two or
three times a month. We are going to sponsor one of those for our
families.  Usually they are on a
Wednesday evening.”

Although there was a response to the need last year, of the
40 Muslim  families who contacted
MFS, only two of them are going to be licensed.

“There is a pretty strenuous process that they have to
go through,” Davis said. “They have to list a support system, such as
who will be a babysitter, go through a background check and a lot of different
steps.  They didn’t tell us that
the families weren’t qualified or didn’t pass the steps, just that only two
were going to be licensed.” Davis said she believes that many aren’t aware
of the need and just didn’t go through all the steps.

“More people are coming to us with children who need a
home or will possibly need a home and we need Muslims to be aware of this,
especially if they are able to help.”

So far about five families have contacted MFS about becoming
certified foster parents.

For more information visit www.mcws.org or
www.muslimfamilyservices.org or call 313.366.6800 for the Detroit office of
MFS  or 734.467.7704 for the Canton
location.