| Inspired by a recent discussion (see comments to post) regarding transracial adoption here on this blog, I'd like to dig up a couple of previous posts that are relevant. As it is the day after Mothers' Day, I'd like to offer two vault entries for the price of one in honor of all you Moms out there!
Part 1 is just a sampling of National Public Radio features about adoption and kinship care in Black communities. (Read Part 2 here.) Another excellent NPR series of adoption, " The Many Faces of Adoption," can be heard here. Also, in March of this year NPR featured a couple of pieces about the Catholic Charities, MA ban on adoption by gay and lesbian parents (here and here). As you can hopefully get a glimpse from this, adoption is one fascinating area of research! (And who knew NPR would be such a rich source of material about it?...) (Originally posted 11/8/05) |
Ed Gordon has hosted two good segments recently on NPR about adoption and kinship care in African American communities:
Barriers to Adoption for Communities of Color (listen)
In recognition of National Adoption Awareness Month, Ed Gordon explores overcoming obstacles to adoption in communities of color. He's joined by Antoinette Williams, assistant director of domestic adoption for Spence-Chapin Services, and Lisha Epperson, mother of two children she adopted through Spence-Chapin.
I was extremely pleased to see so prevalent a mention of open adoption in this piece. Equally so, the mention of infertility in African American adults--a much bigger problem than most realize. I was not so happy to hear the same old same-old about children "languishing" in foster care, or inadequate discussion about how so many African American children get to that system in the first place.
Raising Grandchildren in Communities of Color (listen)
...The number of children living with their grandparents has increased dramatically. Since 1990, the number has climbed 30 percent. These kinship families are especially common in communities of color, where 13 percent of African American kids depend on their grandparents for care. But when the ties that bind the traditional family break down, the challenges facing children and grandparents can sometimes be overwhelming. Ed Gordon speaks with Donna Butts, executive director of Generations United, and Dorothy Jenkins, who raised three of her grandchildren all by herself in the South Bronx.
Mrs. Jenkins--75 years old, recent college grad, and grandmother-mother--is my latest role model and hero. And it sounds as if her late daughter was on course for potentially being one of these women--a situation that is one of the factors in Black children being in the foster care system...
Posted by perry032 at May 15, 2006 01:49 PM