Adoption of "Black Babies" an International Issue?

I saw the news report and was amazed. I am the adoptive CC mom of 7 AA children. While it is true that it may be harder to place older AA children, I am not sure that is the case with infants. We adopted one AA infant and our agency assured us they have always found homes for their AA infants, even if they haven't got a waiting family. They network with other agencies for families. It was disconcerting to have other people in our community make remarks to me about the news report and say, well, "you have adopted the children no one else wanted." It became an opportunity for me to educate these people on transracial adoption. But, I do think it would be nice to have a more standard way of finding homes for AA or special needs infants and children. Maybe a registry for homestudy ready families open to those type of adoption situations that could be accessed by licensed placement agencies? Just a thought.

I agree, the article is biased but admittedly so. Canadians are traditionally anti-American so I didn't find the bias suprising or alarming. Unfortunately, much of the information is accurate. People in this country for the most part do not want to adopt AA babies. Out of curiosity, I went to one of the major websites for prospective adoptive parents to post their bios. I went the birthmom route and selected for prospective adoptive parents who were interested in adopting an AA baby. Out of 250 couples - only eight stated they were willing to accept an AA baby. It made me really sad. I hope things change. I love coming to these forums to meet people like me who have adopted AA children. I hope that we can show our communities that adoption is a beautiful way to build your family and you don't have to travel across the world or wait for years to make it happen.

Maybe we need to ask ourselves why CC people would be "uncomfortable" adopting AA children but not Asian or Hispanic children. I believe whether underlying or outright there is still racial bias' in our society.

A friend of mine called me about this program and I read the text on the CBS website. It was quite upsetting- whether it is true or not because we are an AA couple and have been waiting for almost 9 months. I cehcked out the agency's website. Perhaps they would attract more AA couples if 1) they looked for them and 2) the fees were less than $20K. Families are out there- regardless of race. But the agencies and states must communicate beyond state borders and not be territorial. This after all would be in the best interest of the child. Just my thoughts as I wait...

navyjoy, where do you live? Before I began my adoption journey through the state I located two private agencies in Chicago who were in need of families willing to take AA infants. The fee was under 9,000. If you want to PM me I can give you their names.

<<<I cehcked out the agency's website. Perhaps they would attract more AA couples if 1) they looked for them and 2) the fees were less than $20K.>>> Sorry, didn't know how to do the quote thingie. Do you have a link to the agency's website? Thanks.

Don't think the forum rules will allow posting the agency's website. Rai

Thank you for posting that link, Rai. That is the same article I read. I wasn't sure before you posted that if that was actually what is being discussed here. Now that I know it is.... I have some thoughts on Nancy's points: 1) There is no mention in the article about why black adoptive families are lacking. The article does mention this--"We're in all the Yellow Pages in all the state," says Gilbert. But he admits that he hasn't visited black churches, or promoted The Open Door in black publications and media. 2) I have read many articles about adoption that say a person should be comfortable with the child they are adopting. This article seems to fly in the face of this premise. True, but if part of the problem that is making someone uncomfortable with adopting a child is prejudice, there is nothing wrong with challenging that prejudice and trying to get people to change. 3) I have read (I believe in Adoption for Dummies) that agencies may reduce their fees for black/biracial/multiracial children Maybe this is part of the problem. Maybe I'm misunderstanding... why would reduced fees be a deterrance? 4) I have been on adoption photolisting websites where the listing will say that the child would prefer a black family. Perhaps a social worker's bias is causing children to not be adopted. The article I read was about newborn adoption, not waiting family adoption, so I'm not sure how this fits in specifically here, but... Definitely, a social worker's bias could come into play. Legally, it's not supposed to. MEPA precludes social workers from placing based on race. (I know MEPA still gets violated, I'm not naive, but I'm just saying that this HAS been addressed with the MEPA law.) Also: while social workers are not supposed to place based on race, it is perfectly legal for a waiting child to request a certain race family, and the social worker can then take that into consideration. 5) "The hope that her biological son would grow up in a less-prejudiced society was one of the reasons Ethan's birth mother picked the family in Canada." The article does not say how many white Americans are on the waiting lists. It is possible that they are on the waiting lists, but the birth mother is not choosing them. Don't see how the two things relate. If the birthmother feels her son would grow up happier in Canada, due to the racial climate up there, it wouldn't matter to her whether there were white American families on the list who were willing to raise her son. Last..... this article is about newborn adoptions. There is a little paragraph in the middle of that article that says one of the reasons the birthmom picked the Canadian couple (over a rich American AA family, no less) was that the Canadian couple was willing to do an open adoption. That says to me, this is less about race, and more about openness. Final thoughts: I absolutely believe there are families who will not accept a biracial or AA child. My bdaugther's adoptive parents adopted one of these children. Her bmom wanted a closed adoption--and STILL she was passed over by at least two other families, before the agency offered her to my bd's aparents. And: If there are well-off AA couples waiting to adopt AA and biracial kids, and the bmom is still not comfy with that, because she wants an open adoption and the AA parents don't, then the travesty is not that "our" USA kids are being adopted internationally, the travesty is that there is isn't better education on open adoption and more people willing to open their minds to that possibility.

Thank you.

Thank you so much for the link. I really appreciate it. Carla

When I was in process of adopting, I was told that I could not request a black child, because I was not black. I ended up adopting two Hispanic children from Central America. One was moderately dark. When we went out in public, I got more disapproving stares from blacks than from whites. Once I was cornered in the grocery store by several older black women who wanted to know "why I had that pretty black baby"? When I told them she was from Guatamala they were very pleasant and told me what a wonderful thing I had done to give her a home! That was over ten years ago, and maybe attitudes have changed, but it doesn't seem so.

GrandmaBay, I am a CC parent to an adorable AA child that I hope to be adopting very soon. When I go to the mall in a very mixed community, I have mostly black women coming up to me and telling me how beautiful my son is. I don't get any bad remarks at all. I think things have changed in our society. As for not being able to adopt an AA child because your CC...there are laws against that now so it really isn't an issue. Although there are some people who feel it isn't right, it is still illegal. If it's a private adoption, the birthmother usually picks the adoptive parents. And if it's through the state, there are laws against racial disrimination.

Wow, sorry to hear you have had such a hard time.

When we adopted our son there were 5 other families hoping to be able to adopt him as well. We were the ones his first mother chose, VERY lucky US! I often get that idea from others though, that well because he is black he was somehow less desirable by those families waiting to adopt. That, I believe is seldom the case. If the families reside in Canada then so be it, it's the choice of the birth parent.