Washington Hires Muslim Consultant for Child Welfare

SEATTLE (AP) -- The state Department of Social and Health Services has hired a Muslim consultant to provide cultural and dietary advice to foster parents for seven children taken from the Seattle home of an Ethiopian refugee.
The children were removed Thursday from their home because police are investigating a sexual assault charge against the father. Police told The Seattle Times the alleged victim is not one of the children and the father has not been arrested or charged.
More than 100 members of the Seattle East African Muslim community protested Friday outside a DSHS office in Seattle against the children being placed in non-Muslim foster homes.
About 50 friends and relatives offered to take the children. The DSHS is processing their applications.