Battle over transracial adoption in Pennsylvania
SLJ (a returning MMW guest contributor!)
The Philadelphia Inquirer has been running a bunch of articles about an interracial foster family in Chester County (AKA ChesCo, a suburb of Philadelphia).
Here are the facts as presented in the paper:
- 2 parents with 2 step-children, a 11 year old niece in their foster care, and a 3 year old unrelated boy in their foster care are all in one home.
- The parents wanted to adopt both children, but were instructed to adopt the 11 year old first, as the 3 year old’s biological mother’s parental rights were not terminated.
- The parents adopt the 11 year old. They sought to adopt the 3 year old when his mother’s parental rights were terminated. The ChesCo agency refused, citing a (sometimes enforced) policy that only one child can be adopted per year. The parents intended to petition for adoption next year.
County Court and the Chester County family services system assign the 3 year old is set to be adopted by a new family in central PA. - The 3 year old is picked up from his foster home 2 days earlier than intended. The entire family does not get to say goodbye.
- The foster parents are Caucasian. The 3-year old is African-American.
Now the foster family is suing the Chester County court and family services, saying that under the federal Multiethnic Placement Act, race and ethnicity cannot be used to deny or delay adoptions, unless the agency can prove that it is in the best interests of the child.
It’s also set up a war of words on the editorial page, with the paper’s editors claiming that race should be a valid factor in determining adoptions, and a commentator on the same payroll claiming that adult racial sensibilities are infringing on a child’s sense of family.
The underlying question remains: Are children with the same-race adoptive parents better? Worse? Neither? Who has the right (and the objective perspective) to say?
Tiffany in Houston wrote:
I would say I’d rather have the child in a stable home than in foster care but from what I can tell from reading on MMW that transracially adopted kids do have adjustment issues. That fact can’t be denied.
I have a second cousin who is black, his wife is white and they adopted a baby from China. She is cute as a button and a darling child but you can’t tell me there isn’t going to be some confusion up in that house at some point. And I guess the other thing I thought about is why couldn’t they have adopted a white/black/biracial baby from here??? But of course that was their choice and I respect it.
Posted 14 Apr 2006 at 7:35 pm ¶
Lyonside wrote:
Tiffany:
But does TRA itself cause the “issues” or do parents who don’t effectively deal with the different racial issues the child will encounter cause any “issues?”
And are all “issues” the same regardless of TRA blend?
They’re all questions that are being quietly answered in different ways by individual local county and state child welfare agencies.
Posted 15 Apr 2006 at 12:11 am ¶
Cynthia Jeffers wrote:
As an african american adoptive parent of three children working with young black coulples and single women who want to adopt, TRA has always baffled me. The recruitment of qualified african american’s who want to adopt is poor at best and extremely horrible in reality. It is unfortunate that agencies rearly take longer than a ‘moment’ to look around and try to find these AA adoptive parents, and then feel justified in placing a AA or other race child (not white) into a white home and say they are doing it “in the est interst of the child. The situation above oculd have been avoided if the child was placed in a black foster home right away. Or certainly within a reasonable amount of time. I, like other SW I am sure, could give them at least three families waiting to be adopted parents who would take a 3-year old little boy or girl RIGHT THIS MINUTE. They have been waiting for months. Why?
THE
Posted 23 Apr 2006 at 10:56 am ¶
Cynthia Jeffers wrote:
It is easy to pay lip service to the fact that yes, every child desrves a good home, but at what cost? Why aren’t these wite adoptive parents trying to adopt the odler AA child of 110+? Why is it they are looking for infants or toddlers — and get them, but AA adoptive parents can’t seem to find them? Why are they only told about the teens? No one wants a child to linger in a foster home until he/she ages out of the system, but that is something that does not have to happen. Agencies and the state should do better recruitment efforts to get parents and DSS agencies (or whatever it is in your state) should have their workers review their case files MONTHLY to find people who have been waiting to adopt. When I adoptied the first time, I WAS NEVER asked by the agency if I was interested in adopting again. I was a “natural resourse” theynever tapped into. I went on to adopt twice after that, at a different agency of course. My brother adopted twice after me. TRA is an option, but should not be the first option. And certainly, should go both ways. Did anyone every realize — or admit — it doesn’t go the other way. You will probably NEVER see (unless you watch The Jerk) a black/hispanic or other non-white couple with a white baby. Take it from someone “on the inside” it does not happen. Will not happen. They will not give a white child to a black couple. Regardless of the ‘hard to place’ stigma these kids get tagged with. All you have to do is read the research to verify this.
Posted 23 Apr 2006 at 11:10 am ¶
Jaime Pretell wrote:
This article seems to indicate it has happened.
Because there is no definitive source of data on a national basis regarding the current number of transracial adoptions of children with special needs, no baseline exists against which to compare the level and nature of transracial adoptive placements in the future. Most analyses suggest limited use of transracial adoptions. A Child Welfare League of America [1995] survey of 22 states, for example, found that four percent of all adoptions in 1993 were transracial, and Stolley [1993] reported that only about one percent of all adoptions involved adoptions of African American children by white parents. Avery and Mont [1994] in their New York State study found that approximately 11 percent of adoptions among a sample of 258 families were transracial. The researchers found that in most instances, white parents adopted black children [10.68%] and only in a very small number of adoptions [.83% or 3 cases] did black parents adopt a white child. [Avery & Mont, 1994].
Posted 17 Aug 2006 at 5:26 pm ¶
Jaime Pretell wrote:
And this forum I found also has a few:
http://forums.adoption.com/showthread.php?t=153934
Black parents/white child(ren)
Hello,
My husband and I were approved a couple of months ago and plan on adopting through foster care. We’ve been selected a few times but haven’t yet found a match. We are currently being looked at for two different situations, both are older white children. I’m wondering if there are any black families who have adopted white children who wouldn’t mind sharing their experiences with us. We have no problem with the child’s race and we have friends and church members of different races, we are concerned with the children and how they would feel. I’m just wondering how other families have done in this situation.
Thanks.
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We haven’t adopted but we have fostered a white child. It was a wonderful experience and we would have adopted her if she had been available. She was able to be placed with family. I believe the agency preferred allowing her to stay with us but that wasn’t possible. We live in a community that is mostly white. We have a variety of ethnic groups represented in our friends. She was exposed to different races as well as her own. Because of our community we expected to foster mostly white children. If you don’t care about their race than you will do fine. Just expect some interesting and sometimes rude comments or questions. People are curious and don’t always know how to react. You have to find the right words to remind them that skin color does not define family. Good luck
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Hi. My husband and I are AA. We’ve adopted 6 children. 3 are AA, 1 is white, and 2 brothers are bi-racial. Our white child is 4yrs old. He’s my 3rd oldest. There are two 5 yr olds above him, another 4 year old, a 3 yr old… and a 2 yr old.
The only thing I’ve noticed is he tends to relate to the little white kids on TV.. like that’s me mom! While the other kids lean towards the AA… oh and one of the bi-racial … he leans towards anyone with curly hair! Thier all really cute… separate personalites… and just a blast to be around. I thank God for them daily.. several times a day.
I do wonder what’s life going to be like… but I’m not really worried about it or anything… I have lots of friends with different ethnicities (sp?). And my kids are pretty active in the community. So they are exposed to everyone. We are in a very diverse neighborhood so no one really seems to pay us to much attention. When I see them staring at us or keep looking at him in particular… I can’t help but kinda stare back. Not rudely but just a very pleasant stare… lol silly…. but oh well.
I’d love to chit chat with you. Write me anytime. Oh…. I will say.. the social worker was not very helpful during the adoption process…. but we just prayed and kindly went over her head…. We welcomed “A” into our home at 16 months and adopted him when he was 3.
Posted 17 Aug 2006 at 5:39 pm ¶