Disadvantages Of Interracial Adoption

Henry Ford once said, “ At that point, a child is eligible for adoption and can be placed with a family that can love the child and raise the child.” What this quote says is that a child should be placed with any family that can love it and raise it. If race was not so significant, a higher percentage people would be eligible to adopt, meaning that more kids will be adopted. The happiness of the children should also be of greater importance that the race of the future parents. Despite this, there will always be people who are against transracial adoption. A few of them say that a child with adoptive parents who are of a different race are more likely to suffer an identity crisis. Overall, transracial, or interracial, adoption is better for children in orphanages or the foster care system.

The number of children in the foster care system continues to increase. While the foster care system is essential in helping abused, abandoned, and neglected children, many children remain in foster care for long periods of time when family reunification or adoption is planned. Court delays can often extend the time between when children enter the foster care system and when they are placed into permanent homes. Significant differences exist in the quality of care and outcomes for children depending on their race and ethnicity. The percentage of children of color in the foster care system is larger than the percentage of children of color among the general U.S. population. However, the occurrence of child abuse and neglect is at about the same rate in all racial/ethnic groups.

Others state that “race should be no barrier to finding a child a loving family and adoptive family”. One in five children waiting to be adopted are from an ethnic minority. Last year around 2,300 children were approved for adoption. Of those children 500 of them were either black or asian. Some adopted children state that growing up in a family you weren’t born into was more difficult than they thought. You never knew your ethnic background. It also always raises questions for a child about where they fit in or who they are. It becomes very pointed out if you are visually different from your

The overrepresentation of African American children in the foster care system is a major issue in the United States. African American children only represent about fourteen percent of the child population in the United States, yet represents for thirty percent of the children in the foster care system (Lorthridge, 2011). Ards (2012) stated that African American children are one and a half times more likely to be involved with child protective services and two times more likely to be placed in an out-of-home placement compared to any other race. Being a minority in a country, but the majority in an institution, such as foster care, is a significant problem. Not only is the overrepresentation of African American children a matter of question, but their experience while in foster care is concerning as well. African American children are overrepresented at every aspect in the foster care system and the numbers are not decreasing. According to Anyon (2011), African American children are overrepresented at every stage/decision point in the foster care system. The five stages are known as the five key decision points, which are, report of abuse and/or neglect, referral of report for investigation, reunification, out-of-home placement and termination of parental rights, and exiting the foster care system (Harris, 2008).

Transracial adoption the identity debate, is an immense concern because it confuses the child that they don’t belong to neither side black nor white. Because they have white parents, but the children’s race is black so they are in a confused stage that could affect them physiologically. The black child will end up wishing they were also white like their parents and will make them confused and not have a high self-esteem. Transracial adoption tends to have conflicting results toward the

Disproportionality in different races has become more observed. “Children of color may stay in care longer because they take longer to exit the child welfare system” (Harris-Hackett 2). They were represented in high percentages more than white children. “Children of color were more likely to be represented among referrals investigated, placed in out of home care, have longer lengths of stay and wait longer for adoption”( Harris-Hackett 1). “They claimed children of color are more likely to be poor and being poor can lead to abuse” (Harris-Hackett 2). Most of the children there were abused and didn’t just come from a family that was in

In the United States there are over 500,000 children living in foster homes with approximately two-thirds of the population being African-American children who remain in care longer than any others do (American, 2005). Of the 500,000 children, only two out of three reunite with their birth parents within two years (American, 2005). The most common reason is abuse but it is not always the reason for a child’s placement into foster care. Several factors play a role, such as, abandonment, death of a parent or guardian, incarceration, and physical or emotional illness (American, 2005). Over the past ten years, there has been a decrease in the number of foster parents, who are non-relative, available to care for children.

Currently there is a disproportionate number of minority children in foster care system and as a result, individuals and families of other races or cultures are becoming caregivers and guardians for children of different ethnicities. This is what is known as transcultural/transracial placement and has been a highly controversial happening since the 1970’s and 80’s. The concern amongst social workers and child welfare agencies in transracial placements is the loss of culture or racial identity that may result for the child. Because of the disproportion between the ethnicity of a child and the same or similar ethnicity of a potential foster family, the notion of transracial placement has gone through many changes. As a result of several acts signed into law, considering the race of a child and/or the foster family is no longer part of placement guidelines. (U.S. Commissions On Civil Rights, 2010). While this is a positive change to ensure children are in institutional care for no longer than necessary, it could also leave the door open for the chance of racial disparity, a loss of a child’s sense of biological self, poor cultural identity, and could hinder a child’s ability to cope with being different. Research suggests “when children are removed from their cultures or when their cultures are not acknowledged and appreciated emotional trauma and behavior problems are exacerbated” (Coakley & Buehler, 2009)

In accordance to Dorothy Roberts, professor of Law and Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania, Foster Care “addresses family economic deprivation with child removal rather than services and financial resources.” Moreover, the activities of the Foster Care system, despite it being a vital component of the nation’s child welfare systems, offers a temporary solution to treat the cycle of poverty, removing children, like one would in the case of an earthquake, away from the vicinity, except in this case it’s their homes and families. This is done when the providing of “services and financial resources” would do more than suffice, and as a result “one-third of children in foster care are black, despite black children making up only 15 percent of the nation 's children.”(Roberts) In addition to this, the racial imbalance present in the child welfare system feeds off the notion that children with African-American parents are more at risk than children with white parents. A study done by PBS showed that in Chicago “95 percent of children in foster care are black.,” and in 1997, New York City 's foster care system had “only 1,300” white children, with black children “10 times as likely as white children to be in state protective custody.”(Roberts) “black children in the child welfare system are placed in foster care at twice the rate for white children.,” and a national study of child protective

African American children are often portrayed as children who are abused. Many times it is shown on TV or movies or in novels. People are vulnerable to information that they see every day; yet, this information may or may not be 100 % accurate. “In 1982 black children were 22 % of all child maltreatment reports. In 1984 black children were 20.8 % of all Child Protective Services cases” (Hampton 4).

Ethnic identity is the major reason why many African Americans do not approve of interracial adoption. Adopting a child outside of your race is interracial adoption(Godwin 258). The National Association of Black Social Workers (NABSW) are strongly against interracial adoption. They think that only black people can give the children a positive racial identity. Also that only black parents can help the children develop skills for coping in a racist society. This statement is proven to be wrong in the Grow/Shapiro study in 1974(Bender/Leone 198). The study consisted of 125 white families who all adopted black children. Seventy-seven percent of the adoptions went smoothly without any problems at all. They found that the tests of the transracially adopted children verses those of white adopted children matched very closely (Bender/Leone 200). The tests compared the problems that the white and black children face like racism. The numbers show that the child’s age, not transracial adoption, has the most impact on adjustment and racial identity(Bender/Leone 202). The longer the child is in an orphanage or foster home, the more problems the child will have with an adoptive family. Because the child has no parent, it often becomes confused. The child does not know who to call mom or dad. The children wait two to five years in a foster home or orphanage before being adopted. There are not enough adoptive black

In Hugh Muir and Joanna Moorhead’s article “The Truth About Inter-Racial Adoption”, they argue that a plethora of ethnic children are fixed in the injustice adoption system due to the “shortage of minority families seeking to adopt” (Muir and Moorhead 1). The article considers issues surrounding inter-racial adoption in Great Britain where one in five children to be adopted is from ethic minority with a wait that is three times longer than their white counterparts. In fact, “20% of the ethnic minority” adoptees are never placed in adoptive homes due to the problematic adoptive system in Great Britain (Muir and Moorhead 2). This issue has attracted interest between both Muir and Moorhead who seek to understand why there is such a high amount

To the thousands of children in foster care, adoption means being part of a family. Adoption signifies a chance to be loved, wanted, and cared for properly. Every year thousands of children enter the foster care system. In the year 2010 alone, 245,375 children entered foster care, of that number over 61,000 were black. An astounding 30,812 black children were waiting for adoption in 2010 (AFCARS). With so many children needing homes, it would seem their adoption would be open to any and all loving families, yet this is not the necessarily the case. Transracial adoption, which traditionally alludes to black children placed with white families, is riddled with difficulties. While transracial adoption can be a successful solution, many

As the transition of adoption is finished, a problem of identity arises within the child. It may be months, or even years, depending on the age of the child. Since the child has come from a different background or heritage, the cultural normal is considered different for the child. This is especially the case when

identity for the child's success in growing up in a world that we live in today. Children