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The Case Against Transracial Adoption The National Association of Black Social Workers is an international organization composed of social workers and others in related fields. The purpose of the organization is to address itself to social welfare issues effecting Black peoples no matter where they happen to reside in the world and to bring services to African-American communities There are over one hundred chapters in the United States in addition to chapters in the Bahamas, Canada, England and affiliations with Black social workers in South Africa and other African nations. In 1972, at its fourth annual conference, held in Memphis, Tennessee, the National Association of Black Social Workers (NABSW) issued a resolution opposing the growing practice of placing African-American children in need of adoptive homes with Caucasian parents. The resolution was not based on racial hatred or bigotry, nor was it an attack on White parents. The resolution was not based on any belief that White families could not love Black children, nor did we want African-American children to languish in foster care rather than be placed in White adoptive homes. Our resolution, and the position paper that followed, was directed at the child welfare system that has systematically separated Black children from their birthfamilies. Child welfare workers have historically undertaken little effort to rehabilitate African-American parents, to work with extended families, or to reunite children in foster care with their families. Further, Black families and other families of color who tried to adopt waiting children were often met with discrimination or discouragement. Accordingly, the NABSW took a position against transracial adoption in order to: (1) preserve African-American families and culture; (2) enable African-American children to appreciate their culture of origin through living within a family of the same race and culture; (3) enable African-American children to learn how to cope with racism through living with families who experience racism daily and have learned to function well in spite of that racism; and (4) to break down the systemic barriers that make it difficult for African-American and other families of color to adopt. This position forced child care agencies to examine their policies and helped to highlight the inequities in the child welfare system that did not give African-Americans equal access to African-American children (Neal & Stumph, 1993). It also made agencies take into consideration the concept of the importance of maintaining the child's culture and heritage of origin. However, they did not always take the next step in consistently accessing the African-American community in order to recruit Black families. Further, African-American families are often discouraged, discriminated against, or "screened out" of the adoption process because of cultural misunderstandings, racist attitudes, and ethnocentrism on the part of staff, as well as economic factors (such as high fees, low income). Studies such as Barriers to Same Race Placement (1991) conducted by the North American Council on Adoptable Children and Festinger's 1972 study, Why Some Choose Not to Adopt Through Agencies attest to these facts. The 1986 Westat Incorporated Adoptive Services for Waiting Minority and Non-Minority Children study showed that when the Black community perceived that a child caring agency was welcoming toward African-Americans, the agency had no problem making adoptive placements within the community. On the other hand, if the community perceived a child caring agency as not being "user friendly" they would not patronize the agency. Barriers to Same Race Placement also revealed that agencies run by African-Americans were successful in placing 94% of their Black child population with African-American families. Child caring agencies who are having difficulty working with the African-American community need to consult with Black-run agencies to learn their successful strategies. Among others, the success of the Association of Black Social Workers' Child Adoption, Counseling and Referral Service (New York Chapter), Homes for Black Children (Detroit), the Institute for Black Parents (Los Angeles), Roots, Inc. (Georgia), and the One Church One Child Program (nationwide), have dispelled the myth that Black families do not adopt. Adoption has always been part of the culture of Black people in Africa, the United States and in the Caribbean. Transracial placements are simply not necessary for the majority of Black children available for adoption. Hill's study Informal Adoptions Among Black Families (1977) revealed that 90% of African-American children born out of wedlock are informally adopted. Gershenson's study, Community Response to Children Free for Adoption (published by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1984) demonstrates that – with respect to formal adoptions through child caring agencies and the courts – African-American families adopt at a rate 4.5 times greater than any other ethnic group. If the barriers that keep thousands of African-Americans from adopting were eliminated and recruitment efforts were consistent and ongoing, Black children would be placed in African-American homes in even greater numbers. Hill's Black Pulse Survey, conducted in 1981 and 1993, showed that there were three million African-American households interested in adoption. There are approximately 69,000 children with the goal of adoption nationwide and 43% of these children are African-American (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1990). If only a fraction of the families interested in adoption were approved there would be enough African-American families to adopt Black children. Children remain in foster care rather than being returned to relatives or adopted in an expeditious manner because there is a financial disincentive to release large numbers of children. Public and some private agencies receive governmental funds of $15,000 to $100,000 per year per child. These funds, tied to the numbers of children in foster care, are used to keep the agencies in business. If large numbers of children are released at any given time and are not replaced by equal numbers of children, an agency would have to downsize or close down. Foster care has become a billion dollar industry! Private agencies that receive no governmental monies often charge high fees. Beside the fact that fees of $2,000 to $9,000 per child create a financial hardship for some families, many Black families feel that paying fees is akin to slavery (buying children) and are angered by the practice. Therefore, one-half of the Black children placed by private agencies who do not receive governmental purchase of service fees are adopted transracially (Gilles & Kroll, 1991). Transracial adoptions have increased due to the shortage of White infants and toddlers available for adoption. Contrary to the popular myth, transracial adoptions will have little effect in decreasing the large numbers of children in foster care because most of the children are school-aged or are children with special needs. Only four percent of children available for adoption nationwide are infants and toddlers under the age of two (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1990). However, the majority of White families who would consider a transracial adoption want infants and toddlers. There is no shortage of Black families for such children. It should be noted that 44% of the children available for adoption nationwide are White (mostly school-age and/or have special needs). However, there is little discussion concerning these children and their right to a permanent home. There is no suggestion from proponents of transracial adoptions that White children who are "languishing in the system" be adopted by African-Americans or other people of color. African-American families who have tried to adopt White children have been blocked by child caring agencies and the courts most of the time. Accordingly, in practice, transracial adoptions are a "one-way street." The question arises whether the thrust for increasing transracial adoptions is truly concerned with the "best interests of Black children" or "the right of [W]hite people to parent whichever child they choose?" (Perry, 1993-4). Adoption is supposed to be a service to children, not parents. Adult adoptees of all races state that they have a human right to know their heritages. They are demanding more openness in adoptions and are searching for their biological relatives. Children placed with families of the same culture and race suffer great loss issues due to their separation from their biological families. Children placed transracially suffer a double loss because they have lost their cultural and racial connections as well (Verrier, 1993). Many adult transracial adoptees report that, once they leave home, they feel that they do not belong anywhere. On the one hand they are not fully accepted in the White community and – even though they are more accepted in the Black community – they often do not understand various cultural nuances. Race and culture cannot be ignored. "The key to successful living as a minority person in a discrimination, denigrating society is to have positive affirmation with others like oneself, from whom one can gain support and affirmation and learn coping skills." (Howe, 1995). The National Association of Black Social Workers has first and foremost been concerned with the preservation of African-American families. Very little effort has been put forth by the child welfare system to keep families together or to return children in foster care to their relatives. It is much more economical to keep children in their families than it is to fund their foster care. Unfortunately, preventive service programs are in danger of being cut by federal, state and local governments. Children come into foster care because of poverty-related issues. To deny help to these families is to ignore their strengths and to deny the importance of strengthening African-American communities to support the positive functioning of Black children. Therefore, in 1994 the NABSW issued a paper on preserving African-American families. This paper states the organization's current policy regarding transracial adoptions: (1) All efforts should be made to keep children with their biological relatives via preventive services or return those children who are already in foster care; (2) For those children who cannot return to relatives, adoption by a family of the same race and culture is the next best option to preserve cultural continuity; and (3) Transracial adoptions should be a last resort only after a documented failure to find an African-American home. Transracial placements should be reviewed and supported by representatives of the African-American community (NABSW, 1994). For those children who must be placed transracially, it must be remembered that White adoptive families become "mixed" families after they adopt transracially. They have to be given pre- and post-adoption services to enable them to help their children cope with racism and culture of origin disconnection. Many transracial adoptees bemoan the fact that their adoptive parents were ill-equipped to help them with these issues and that their self-esteem suffered as a result. The child welfare system must become more culturally competent and recognize that infants as well as older children grieve over their biological family and cultural losses. The NABSW launched its Fist Full of Families Nationwide Adoption Initiative during the October 1995 Million Man March in Washington, D.C. and has received over 9,000 adoption inquiries in the subsequent six months. The expression of such a volume of interest in adoption demonstrates that, for the majority of African-American children, transracial adoptions are unnecessary. Leora
Neal, M.S.W., C.S.W., Executive Director, New York Chapter,
References Cook, R. & Gedlak, A. (1986). Adoptive services for waiting minority and non-minority children. Washington, D.C.: Westat Incorporated. Festinger, T. (1972, April). Why some choose not to adopt through agencies. Marc Monograph #1, pp. 58-9. New York: Metropolitan Applied Research Center, Inc. Gershenson, C. (1984, March). Community response to children free for adoption. In Child Welfare Research Notes #3, pp. 1-5. Washington, D.C.: Children's Bureau, Administration for Children, Youth and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Gilles, T. & Kroll, J. (1991). Barriers to same race placement. St. Paul, MN: North American Council on Adoptable Children. Hill, R. (1981, 1993). Black pulse survey. Washington, D.C.: National Urban League. Hill, R. (1977). Informal adoptions among Black families. Washington, D.C.: National Urban League. Howe, R. (1994). Redefining the transracial adoption controversy. Duke Journal of Gender Law & Policy, 1(3). McRoy, R., L. Zurcher, M. Lauderdale & R. Anderson (1982). Self-esteem and racial identity in transracial and inracial adoptees. Social Work, 27(6), pp. 522-526. National Association of Black Social Workers (1994). Detroit, MI: Position statement: Preserving African-American families. National Association of Black Social Workers (1972). New York: Position paper: Transracial adoption. Neal, L. & Stumph. A. (1993). Transracial adoptive parenting: A Black/White community issue. Bronx, NY: Haskett-Heal Publications. Perry, T. (1993-4). The transracial adoption controversy: An analysis of discourse and subordination. New York University Review of Law & Social Change, 21, pp. 33, 34. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (1990). Adoption fact sheet. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. Verrier, N. (1993). The Primal Wound. Baltimore: Gateway Press, Inc.
Copyright 1996, Regional Research Institute for Human Services.
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