The Evolution of African American Adoption

Summary:  In the past, African American adoption was virtually unheard of. Nowadays, however, Even Hollywood superstars like Angelina Jolie and Madonna have embraced African American adoption and have gone through the international adoption process.

Just a few decades ago, racism penetrated, even the adoption process. Before the 1940s, African American adoption was unheard of. African-American birth parents and children were simply denied adoption services by various agencies simply because of their race. According to studies, some states with large African American populations, like Florida and Louisiana, not a single African American child was placed for adoption by an agency for many years running. Discriminated against and reluctant to establish their own racially exclusive organizations, African Americans instead relied on informal adoption practices in order to take care of their own.

By the 1950s, up to 50,000 African American children were in need of adoption, but would probably never find permanent homes. The turning point came when The US Children’s Bureau implemented a number of innovative programs around the country and began recruiting non-white parents. Child welfare professionals and civil rights activists from all over the US, came together to promote culturally sensitive policies, integrate agency staff, and do community outreach.

Then came the National Urban League Foster Care and Adoptions Project and Adopt-A-Child, founded in 1953 and 1955 respectively, groups which took leaps towards promoting “Negro” adoption nationally. Adopt-a-Child, which lasted for 5 years, facilitated the placement of more than 800 children. Most “Negro” or African American adoption programs were located in cities with significant African American and immigrant populations.

These programs did not promote transracial adoption, the adoption of a “Negro” baby by white couples, but they did receive numerous inquiries from white couples. Eventually, a few agencies began to challenge race-matching by placing African-American kids in white homes. Although only a small number of African American children were ever adopted by white parents, this trend followed other important developments, especially Native American adoption and international adoption, in which significant numbers of children from Asian countries crossed lines of race as well as nation to become members of American families.

African American adoption sparked the trend of transracial adoption. Today, minority race children also get a chance to live a better life, with families who can provide them with proper care and love. Adoption agencies and organizations all over the world are now open to this. Online websites have postings of parents of different races looking to adopt a child, and a lot of times these parents even request for a different race. Even Hollywood superstars like Angelina Jolie and Madonna have embraced African American adoption and have gone through the international adoption process. This is a wonderful and positive development for humankind, especially for the children.