Does race matter?

Generally, and I think this is the case in most areas, there is a huge dichotomy between the number of minority foster homes and the number minority foster kids. In our area 75% of the foster homes are mostly CC, while the number of kids in foster care who are of a non CC race is about 60%. So, yes...while it is preferable to place a child with a foster family who is of the same race, it isn't always possible. I think the general feeling in my area is that if you are going to hold out for a child who is the same race as you, you will be waiting a long time (unless you're a minority race). Also, FWIW...they don't always know the race when they call, especially for a newborn. We've had 3 kids (different placements) that we were called and told they were CC. When we got them it was obvious each time that they were not CC. In my area they go by what the BP identifies them self as at the time of placement. So if you have a CC mother, and an absent AA father, they may call you for a CC child who is in fact bi-racial.

It may be illegal but I know for a fact that it happens. I work with a woman who got a 5 day old black child(she's white) and when she was going for an adoption(child's mother gave her up in the hospital) the case worker didn't like the idea of a single white woman adopting a black child. Even in our case right now, the demeanor of our case worker seemed to change and her want for the baby to go back to his family changed after she found out we were interested in adopting him. He's Mexican and we're not Hispanic.

Depending on your area demographics, it probably happens 60% of the time. Our former foster daughters were AA, we are Caucasian. It didn't matter to us, and it didn't matter to the girls except that the old one wished she looked more like us, but it certainly mattered to their mom, and lots of other people who wondered where were got "those" kids from.

10 out of my 12 placements have been a different race.

My first placement was a black baby girl (I'm white). They asked me if I would take her but (because she was foster/adopt) they had to make sure there were no Afr/Amer homes before they brought her to my house.After that, it seemed like the subject of race was never a factor. My placements were: asian, hispanic and african/american.

Right now, we have a bi-racial AA/CC foster daughter. My DH and I are CC, and we get some really funny looks when we all go out together. We don't care. We are open to any race. Her parents, though, DO care, and are very pissed that she was not placed with an AA family (or with grandma in another state, but that's a whole other post!) Her parents actually asked that she be moved to an AA foster home because we couldn't possible understand how to do her hair. I kid you not! It was all about her hair! No other reason. (Btw, we solved the hair issue by asking if it was possible for mom to teach us how to do her hair. Mom refused to teach us, but did write up instructions. The instructions? "Please use [insert name] leave-in conditioner on her hair and put it in two braids." I looked up how to care for AA hair and started following those instructions, as well. The other day the CW mentioned I must be doing a good job b/c mom has not mentioned it again. <rolling my eyes>) We've only had one other placement that was not CC. She was guatamalan. Our area is 90% CC, 7% Hispanic, and 3% AA.

Our area is mostly white. To be honest, I'm not sure I would want a child of a different race. As I'm afraid it would cause trouble.

Me and hubby are a mixed race couple. We have a bi-racial bio daughter and our foster kids are different races than we are. The calls we have received have mainly been for hispanic/latin kids (although are sib set are CC girls blonde hair blue eyes and one with green eyes) foster son was listed as hispanic but he's bi-racial. My family says we are truly a multicultural family. I would say it would depend on the demographics of your area.

I think race does matter some but you just need to be willing to do whatever is best for your children to overcome it. FFS was AA, we don't live in a very diverse area but we never had any issues within our community. Of course he was a baby and he wasn't old enough for school. If we end up adopting a sib group that is another race we will likely move to more diverse area. I know everyone can't just up and move but, assuming we can sell our house, we would. The way I see it, if i say no to an AA placement just because we don't live in a diverse community it won't guarantee they will be put with an AA family or even a different race family in a more diverse location. At least if I take them I know they are being cared for.

I think it isn't just the placements you have to think about. I know many people get mixed race placements, and it is great. The kids are in a great home, and that is what matters. You have to think about yourself also. I know that DH and I wouldn't care a bit who came into our home, because they are children who need love and help. His family, however, would have a serious problem with it. We decided that a child would have had enough trauma from coming into care. We couldn't put them through more with an entire side of the family who would treat them as if they were dirt, or use inappropriate names in front of them. Our agency was nderstanding, and except one little one who needed to be disrupted due to the foster family we were never offered a child who wasn't in our racial range. I still hate it and cringe that we even had to do it, it shouldn't matter. We had to protect the children though, and putting them in that situation would have been just wrong.

Hubs and I are open to all races except for native American. I am sorry but I can't go through the tribal rules and regs. I don't think my agency even handles those cases. It kills me because I love the people, art and culture. The second case would be racist kids. We have lots of rival gangs in the Big No. I wouldn't take in a kid who might trash another kid of mines race. The Hispanic Asian black and white gangs all loathe each other. My sisters principal took in kids whose dad is a major gang banger. They had a lot of racist mistrust hate etc. My currents are part hianic and part AA it's all good. :love:

Thank you all for the replies. I am shocked(and happy) to find out that race isn't really a factor in placements. Like all of you, a child is a child and if we can give them a safe home to live in and a family that loves them, thats all that matters. Our area is pretty diverse. We are cc and have 3 bio kids. The elem. school they go to is probably 60cc/38aa/2his (%) It's not like where I grew up and the high school there were about 2 aa in the whole school. Our church is also real diverse and several of our friends are mixed/aa. So, I really don't see an issue at all, but a lady in our class made a comment that worried me. She is AA and said that she would frown upon placing AA fk in CC homes. I couldn't understand that. I understand that you want them to be comfortable and not feel so out of place (on top of everything else they are going thru) But a loving family and safe home with CC is better than none at all?! Right?! I guess in my mind I am not seeing race... just hurting kids/families in need. So glad to see so many of you are able to provide homes for kids, no matter the race. Thanks again for all the posts.

Our city as a whole is diverse, but we live in a very, very white part of it. Therefore, I know that we will have to make an effort to bring our kids around people of different colors/cultures. My daughter is AA (with a 1/4 Cuban mixed in). My other daughter has curly brown hair and blue eyes -- her birthmom is Puerto Rican and her dad is CC (German heritage). My son's birth parents are both Mexican American. We are actually looking to adopt a fourth child, and we prefer he/she is AA to provide my daughter with a little more racial identity. The elementary school in our area is only 1 percent AA, so I think having a sibling who is AA might be a good idea.

My previous placement was AA/Latin. I put down on my homestudy that I was open to all races and I don't recall the SSW mentioning race when she called for placement. After a rough start, Biomom and I ended up getting along very well. When my FS' mom found out I was a fan of her country's food she started sending native dishes back with him for dinner after visits. Good food and a minimum of dirty dishes? Double score!!

We are CC, our oldest two are CC, son is Hispanic and who knows what, baby girl is Asian. Being placed with an Asian baby is pretty unheard of in the world of fc where we live. We were looking for another Hispanic child, but were more than willing to accept baby girl!!! A lot of people keep talking about racial diversity where you live. I look at it as it is what it is. You either accept my family or stay away from us!!! We have had some negative comments said about our family behind our backs that we found out about. I go with it....we try to expose our kids to their heritage without over doing it.