Knowing that I am a grad student on a big adoption project, folks are still asking me what I think about the 60 Minutes segment about African American children being adopted by White families outside the USA. I try to refrain from giving my reaction--Not that I am avoiding giving one; More like, I find it difficult to distill in a 45 second sound bite all the complexities I see as being involved in this new twist on international adoption and transracial adoption.
In this blog forum, I guess my answer would be to invite folks to read what I have written before about merging adoption theory/research with adoption practice/policy. For example, here I wondered: "Is it possible to design multifaceted, but linked and integrated policy to address reproductive health, unplanned pregnancy, and educational disparities?" In other words, one answer to the question about whether or not White Americans (or White Canadians, or anyone else who is not Black) should be "allowed" to adopt Black children is to stop and rewind the question a little farther back. One such question might be: "Should African American families be 'allowed' to get into situations in which the termination of parental rights and removal of a child from a family and community is seen by the State as an option?"
Even this is too simple a question. And it falls into an area where I am lacking in research expertise. And I realize that the question is not relevant to all Black individuals, couples and families faced with the prospect of having a child "adopted out" of their households--either by choice or by mandate. But I do think that, like most policy issues, this one has roots that go deep--much deeper than the question of "where do Black children belong".
Those roots cannot be ignored.
Nor can the historical roots.
There is a world (and several generations) of difference between the situation of loving parents, who happen to be a European American, welcoming a Black child into their home, and the situation of Black enslaved children being removed at will from their families and sold to White masters.
Let me say again, just so there is no mistake:
There is a world (and several generations) of difference between the situation of loving parents, who happen to be a European American, welcoming a Black child into their home, and the situation of Black enslaved children being removed at will from their families and sold to White masters.
Having said that, I admit that no matter how much I am able to acknowledge this fact on a cognitive level, I am unable to totally shake a vaguely troubling gut-level image overlap of the two situations. I am going to guess that I am not the only person to feel this way. Whatever policy we develop about African American children, their birth families, prospective foster and adoptive parents, and the role of the State, we must take into account that the prospect of such a shift in residence and relationships involved in transracial adoption may send a taut tendon vibrating in many.
In the adoption practice world, there exists a strong child welfare mandate--and understandably so. As such, the tale of Black children eventually coming to be seen as "adoptable" by White parents is usually told as a fairy tale of colorblind love and justice winning over evil.
In this fairy tale, the "evil" is often in the ogre-guise of the National Association of Black Social Workers. In the early 70s, the NABSW took a position in response to the developing practice at the time by mainstream social service agencies of placing Black children with White families. I have read many articles in which this position is mentioned; Rarely have I seen it portrayed in its full complexity. And often, the NABSW is painted as a reactionary bunch, illogically standing in the way of Black children and the love, stability, and support they need.
This characterization is unfortunate, for it keeps us from having the conversations we need to be having about private and common good (and "goods"), social class, educational and other disparities, substance abuse, incarceration, and so much more. It keeps us from addressing the historical symbol of hope that children have likely represented to every single group of humans on this planet.
Where do Black children belong? There will continue to be heated debates about the issue of any children crossing borders--"borders" of all kinds. What we've just got to recognize is that each child casts a long shadow--We recognize that shadow when we sing that "children are our future"; We don't do such a good job of recognizing how far into the past that shadow also reaches.
*****
Two of the organizations with missions involving finding homes for African American children:
One Church One Child : http://www.ococil.org/
African American Adoption Agency: http://www.afadopt.org/
Two articles available on-line that provide a much better analysis of the current situation than I have here:
"Meeting the Challenges of Contemporary Foster Care" available at http://www.futureofchildren.org/usr_doc/5-stukes.pdf
"KIINSHIIP CARE POSIITIION PAPER" (National Association of Black Social Workers National Kinship Care Task Force) available at http://www.nabsw.org/Resources/position-papers/kinship.pdf
This is me. I appreciate thoughtful commentary on this issue. The children who've survived transracial adoption will be able to one day speak about what it was like if anyone will listen.
Posted by: Taffy at March 22, 2005 08:08 AM