Nadine Osman

Muslim parents in the Midlands are being offered support on discussing sensitive child safety subjects with their children from the country’s leading children’s charity.

The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) launched its Comfortable Conversations leaflet, which is available in English, Bengali, Arabic, and Urdu at the Let’s Celebrate Eid event at the Birmingham Hotel earlier this month.

The charity hopes that by using the leaflet, which was produced using focus groups of Muslim parents and Islamic scholars, will be able to provide culturally sensitive instruction and feel secure and comfortable addressing a wide range of themes with their children.

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“Families with multigenerational households and different cultural upbringings, whilst being a strength, can also bring parenting challenges for our communities,” said Kathleen Roche-Nagi, Managing Director of Approachable Parenting, a community interest group that supports Muslim families and co-creators of the leaflet. “By working with the NSPCC to develop this toolkit, we will help parents navigate having uncomfortable conversations in a safe environment, backed by references from Islamic traditions.”

Suaad Obadi was one of the many parents from Birmingham who attended the launch said: “There are very interesting things here in this leaflet, especially for parents dealing with teenagers. Altogether, it is simple, attractive, colourful and presents new thinking and ideas. It is also great to have a resource that is available in different languages.”

Faisal Hamood, a family support worker, said: “The leaflet is a good reference for anyone working in the field and useful for parents too. The religious references will help aid conversations while the information will enable parents to understand how much the guidance works, which includes bringing the community together.”

Rachel Wallace, NSPCC Local Campaigns Manager for the Midlands, said: “The leaflet shows the importance of family in Islam and illustrates that faith and helping to keep children safe go hand in hand.”