Federal Program Aims at Increasing Adoption of Black Foster Kids
While only about 15% of U.S. American children are African American, over 30% of the children in U.S. foster care are Black. A new federally funded campaign aimed directly at encouraging Black parents to adopt Black children from foster care launched this week to try and balance some of the disparity.
Programs to help place children with biological relatives have already moved the numbers of Black children in foster care from over 40% to the present figure. Most often, foster-adoptive parents are aunts or grandmothers (of all races). But the new campaign is meant to bolster the numbers of non-relative foster-adoption as well.
While I applaud this better-late-than-never effort to get the least adoptable kids–minority children–especially boys–over two years old–into permanent homes, I hope that the federal government and others that hold purse strings affecting foster care and adoption are also planning to work harder on the front end of the problem, keeping kids out of foster care in the first place.
Scholar Dorothy Roberts and others have shown that under identical family circumstances, minority children–especially African American children–are much more likely to be removed from their families and placed in foster care than white children. White families facing troubles are more likely to receive services and counseling to help them stay intact and get their feet on solid ground. Black families are more likely to be separated. And once a parent loses a child to the foster system, it becomes very difficult to reunite the family.
So while finding more Black parents for Black children in real need is indeed a wonderful thing, helping them stay with their original parents whenever possible could be even more wonderful.
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Tags: adoption, adoptive families, adoptive parents, Black child adoption, foster care, foster children, foster parents, foster-adopt, minority adoption, older child adoption, Shannon LC Cate, toddler adoption, transracial adoption
6 Comments
Ali commented on Aug 06 09 at 8:17 pmIn our state the number one goal is to keep families intact. As a result we have one of the highest rates of chidl murder by family members. These kids often had files with the state but they are rigid about keeping families, especially black families, together. I also dont like the racist attitude that only blacks are quilified to raise black children. Family has no color.
Shannon LC Cate commented on Aug 06 09 at 8:19 pmWell, I’m a transracially adoptive mom, so I don’t disagree with placing Black children with white parents. But people do have color and color means something in this society. I do think white parents need to know something about the dynamics of race and racism before they adopt transracially.
Laundry & Children commented on Aug 06 09 at 11:42 pmI’m the white mother to two black children adopted out of the foster care system. How about finding these children families, no matter the color of those parent’s skin?
I agree that there is racism out there. But I don’t want my children growing up being told that they had to settle for a second best white mommy because we adopted them instead of a black family.
We were there when things were the roughest for our children. We have formed bonds that are as strong as those that we have with our biological children. There is nothing, nothing that could separate me from my children. They may not have grown in me, but they are no less a part of me.
Our current President, our first African American President, was raised by his white mother and his white grandparents. Things seem to have worked out in that case.
Nancy commented on Aug 07 09 at 8:21 amI don’t understand why white parents of black children are so offended/defensive at the suggestion that black children can benefit from being raised by folks of their own race. Nobody’s saying you aren’t good parents. Or that your children should be removed from your care. Or that you are second best. But race is a huge issue in this society. What is so threatening about the idea that a black person has wisdom to offer a child about walking this world in black skin? And what’s wrong with offering black families a little support in sharing this wisdom with a black child? The defensiveness seems a little like someone with white privilege worrying it might be taken away.
Mistress_Scorpio commented on Aug 08 09 at 12:46 amNancy, ditto everything you said.
Vanessa in Kansas commented on Aug 14 09 at 3:35 pmCommentsYou know, I agree in theory that everything should be done to keep children with their original parents, but living in a small town, and working in the public schools, one gets a very close and often very sad look at the workings of families–both white and minority–and regardless of race, some people are just absolutely clueless about how to be parents. I agree that it would be wonderful to educate these people on proper discipline for children, the importance of proper nutrition, the value of reading, etc., but it is a HUGE task to take on. Plus, most of these parents think they are doing just fine, thank you very much, and their kids are their business…almost like the kids are their property, like a car or a tv. When you see a woman walking her 3-year old (as I did) to Headstart on a 7 degree morning, and the mother has a coat on, and the little girl is shivering in a t-shirt…where do you begin? I said, “Wow, sweetie, you need a coat!” and the mother laughed, “Yes, she forgot her coat this morning!” And I’m thinking, since when is a three-year old in charge of her own coat? And I said, “Well, you clearly didn’t forget yours.” And I can’t describe the hateful look the mother gave me. Is that child really better with that woman in charge? And that’s only the start of the many stories I could share about kids from preschool to high school who have selfish, unkind, harsh biological “parents” in charge of their lives. So, yes, it would be great to keep children who end up for adoption with their biological families…and yet, the root of that problem is teaching large swaths of our population how to be effective parents and all the qualities that go with it–selflessness, patience, curiosity, sacrifice, humor, perspective. Ten years ago, I would have said, yes, do whatever you can to keep children with their biological family. Now, I find myself on the side of put a child with anyone–regardless of age, race or sexual orientation–who will love and nurture them because the child will be better for it, and so will our society as a whole. Thanks for writing the piece!
