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You may know that November is National Adoption Month. Courtney wrote a great post about it on the Adoptive Parenting blog. Although we can all celebrate our adoptions – past, present, and future – National Adoption Month focuses on adopting from the US foster care system. This year’s theme is “You don’t have to be a perfect parent.” According to about.com, the focus for 2009 is encouraging the African American community to consider adoption.
There are 510,000 children in foster care, approximately 129,000 of whom are legally available for adoption. The National Foster Care Coalition reports that “the percentage of children of color in foster care is higher than that of the general US population” and that children of color are likely to remain in foster care longer than their white counterparts. Sadly, children of color are also less likely to return to their birth families or to be adopted.
Black children are disproportionately represented in foster care. According to Children of Color in the Welfare System: Perspectives from the Child Welfare Community, African American children made up 15% of the population (in 1999), yet 25% of “maltreatment victims” were African American. This study looked into why the disparity exists.
People of color are more likely to have lower incomes. Almost one-third of African American children live in poverty, according to the 2000 US Census. Abuse and neglect are more likely to occur in lower income households.
People of color are more likely to face bias within the system. People have argued that black children are more likely to be removed from their families than white children, even for the same offense. A 1999 study showed that, when white and black mothers tested positive for drugs, the black mothers were ten times more likely to be reported to the authorities after delivery.
Studies on whether decision-making is based on race have been inconclusive. That is, some studies indicate that black families are more likely to be investigated when physical abuse is reported, while other studies don’t bear that out.
These findings scream out to me:
Although there have been few studies examining racial disparities in family preservation services, the available evidence suggests racial discrepancies in decisions to maintain children of color in their homes or to return them to their families of origin. For children reported to CPS, the majority of Caucasian children receive support to remain at home, whereas the majority of African-American children receive foster care placement (Harris, Tittle & Poertner 2001; USDHHS, 1999).
It has been found that African-American children are less likely to receive in-home services and mental health treatment (Garland & Besinger, 1997). When they do receive services, they tend to receive fewer and a more limited range and quality of services (Courtney et al., 1996; Maluccio & Fein, 1989).
Finally, research has found that families of children of color receive less support and less appropriate services to retain their children at home.
Put simply, it seems that Caucasian families have more support than African American families.
