The Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute released a new report that explored the issue of race and adoption. The study, Finding Families for African American Children: The Role of Race & Law in Adoption from Foster Care, suggests that the Multiethnic Placement Act or MEPA of 1994, and the Removal of Barriers to Interethnic Adoption Provisions or IEP of 1996, have not brought about the needed equality in the adoption of African American children from foster care. IEP was to bring a more "color blind" component to MEPA. MEPA stated that race could not be a sole factor in the selection of an adoptive family. While IEP made it so that race could not be a factor at all. The study found that the interpretations of MEPA and IEP "run counter to widely accepted best practices in adoption." MEPA also calls for the recruiting of prospective adoptive parents that represent the racial and ethnic backgrounds of the children in care. The study found that this has lacked implementation and enforcement.
The Adoption Institute wanted the purpose of the paper to be very clear and so made the following statement: "The purpose of this paper is not to impede or prevent transracial adoptions or to promote racial matching; rather, it seeks to apply relevant knowledge to the practice of child welfare adoptions in order to best serve children and families."
Past Research on Transracial AdoptionsThe study reviewed past research and found that transracial adoption brings about more challenges to the adoptee and to the adoptive family. It is best if these issues are addressed upon matching a child to a family and preparing the family to parent the child in order to meet the child's needs.
Many transracially adopted children have to cope with being different and many have expressed a desire to be white. It doubled the likelihood for African American adoptees who grew up in very White communities to feel uncomfortable with their racial appearance then those who grew up in racially mixed communities.
Transracially adopted children may have difficultly in developing racial identity.
It was found that behavior problems and psychological distress could be linked to perceived discrimination in transracially adopted adolescents and young adults. It is important that transracially adopted children are taught how to handle discrimination.
The study conducted by the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute focuses on domestic transracial adoption. MEPA-IEP is being evaluated by the U.S. Civil Rights Commission as indicated by a September 2007 hearing. The Commission posed 5 questions in order to evaluate MEPA-IEP. The Questions:
- Has the enactment of MEPA removed barriers to permanency facing children involved in the child welfare system?
- Has the enactment of MEPA reduced the amount of time minority children spend in foster care or wait to be adopted?
- How effectively is the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services enforcing MEPA-IEP? What impact has enforcement had on best practices in adoption?
- What is the impact of DHHS' enforcement of MEPA-IEP on the efforts of prospective parents to adopt or provide foster care for minority children?
- Does transracial adoption serve children's best interest or does it have negative consequences for minority children, families, and communities?
Reported Findings
MEPA-IEP has not brought about permanency for African American children in the foster care system who await adoption. The adoption rate of African American children have been lower than other ethnic groups on a more consistent basis./p]
African American children remain in foster care 9 months longer than white children.
Best practices in adoption are not being met due to misinterpretations of MEPA-IEP. Color-blindness is not in a child's best interest in adoption. It keeps agencies from assessing a family's ability to meet a child of another race or ethnic group's needs. It is standard practice in international adoption to discuss how an adoptive family is going to keep a child connected to his racial/ethnic group.
There is a need for more recruitment of African American families for the children in care. There is a provision of MEPA-IEP that is not being fully implemented at this time.
Recommendations
Reinforce that a child's best interest must be the main focus in placement decisions. This is of importance in all adoption related laws, policies, and practices.
Amend IEP to allow the consideration of race and ethnicity in permanency planning and in the preparation of families who are adopting transracially. Reinstate the original MEPA wording that race is a factor, but not the sole factor.
Enforce the MEPA requirement to recruit families who represent the racial backgrounds of the children in foster care.
Develop alliances with faith communities, minority placement agencies and other minority recruitment programs to bring more minority families into fostering and adopting.
Provide support for the adoption by kin and when that is not possible, provide federal funding for subsidized guardianship.
Provide post-adoption support services from placement through a child's adolescence to help families address a transracially adopted child's needs.
This study was endorsed by the following: North American Council on Adoptable Children, the Child Welfare League of America, the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, the Adoption Exchange Association, the National Association of Black Social Workers, Voice for Adoption [1], and the Foster Care Alumni of America. In addition, the National Association of Social Workers, which has no policy for supporting research papers per se, endorses its recommendations.
