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Color-Blind Adoptions?
Sun, 06/01/2008 - 19:04 | Family
According to a report released by the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, transracial adoption of children isn't working well for children of color raised in white families. An article that originally appeared in The New York Times does a good job of summarizing key findings of the Institute's report:
The report points out that transracial adoption itself does not produce psychological or other social problems in children, but that these children often face major challenges as the only person of color in an all-white environment, trying to cope with being different.The report also includes a recommendation that the Multiethnic Placement Act, which promote color-blind adoptions and was amended in the mid '90s to end the practice of matching children and parents by race, be amended again. Why should or shouldn't adoption agencies be permitted to consider race as one of the factors in selecting parents for children from foster care?
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Comments
We as close-minded black
We as close-minded black people erect so many barriers and impose limitations on ourselves sometimes. I'm sure if you ask any black child if they would rather stay in the system or be raised by a loving white family, they would choose the latter of the two choices.
As far as facing " . . . major challenges as the only person of color in an all-white environment, trying to cope with being different." Welcome to reality! For those of us that don't live in "majority black" cities and aspire to do our best and don't settle for the small piece of pie but choose to excel in school or at work, what better way to prepare them for what the rest of their lives will be like.
I'm 35, from southern Indiana and was usually the only black in class through middle school college, and now on the job (and the only female), so don't talk to me about "being different".
Unless your houses are about to bust from all the little black babies you've adopted, don't dare criticize others (black, white or other) for choosing to see past color and raise our future leaders, you should be thanking them.
No matter how we try eluding
No matter how we try eluding the discussion of race in America, it never transcends itself. I commend people of any race that embrace adopting children from another race. It is important to have love and time - that is essential in raising kids of any race. But the second most important thing that should be considered is the development of the child. Love, time and money are great things to have when adopting, but what about the physiological journey this/these kids will have in a family of another culture?
Will the adopting parent/parents be modest enough to seek help in cultivating the culture of the adopted child’s origin? I think loving them enough to exclude the imperialism attitude that says my culture is all that’s needed should forever be voided. I think white people need a serious assessment of what is needed beyond love in order to increase the cultural development of a black child. I think regular counseling on cultural etiquette before and after would help to enhance a better quality of life for the child.
We all would like to think that love is enough but in this case, love is only part of what the child needs to be socially inclined, universal.
Depriving an adopted child of its heritage is not, will not be a sober assessment. In the end, the child ends up snarled in a world filled with confusion, disconnection, regrets, without any revelation of who he/she is. It’s like being transformed from our common ancestors into a different world.
If you want the child to be well-rounded, with love, get help in including his/cultural background into his/her life.
I believe that however
I believe that however well-meaning and wonderful it is that people want to be colorblind in either foster care or adoption, when it comes to crossing culture barriers they tend to go blind. When you adopt or foster for other culture's children, you have to make sure that they "see" themselves represented in positive aspects of society, not just the CNN caption of the day (most of the time) isn't positive. I'm not slamming white folk; I realize that they don't think about or pay attention to the fact that in movies, t.v., newspapers, people of color are represented (if they are) as criminals, victims, or ignorant. This doesn't give adopted or foster kids any sense of self worth about the people they come from, nor does it help them with a sense of race pride. While I applaud those that adopt or foster kids of other cultures, I do believe that they should educate themselves about the culture (art, history, language) of the children they take care of and incorporate those aspects into helping to bring up the children.
While I agree with the
While I agree with the findings of this study, I believe race should ONLY be one of several factors taken into consideration throughout the adoption process. First, and foremost, if a family, regardless of race, is willing to adopt a child in need of a loving home they should have the opportunity to do so. The only caveat being that the entire adoptive family is included in multi-cultural training of some sort. In my personal experience, my African American father married a German woman after my biological parents divorced in the early 1960’s (there’s a book in that alone) while I have since overcome them, there were issues with personal identity and cultural awareness (first thing that comes to mind…stepmother didn’t have a clue how to take care of my hair…ultimately my father found a neighbor who could). Not to belittle the other issues compounding such adoptions, i.e. racism, economics and education, I believe this is the most pressing issue when it comes to transracial adoptions.