Finding Families for African American Children: The Role of Race & Law in Adoption From Foster Care
Source: Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute
From press release:

The federal law mandating a “color blind” approach to adoption from foster care is preventing adequate preparation for White families who adopt Black children, and its provision for recruiting more African American parents is not being well-implemented or enforced, according to a comprehensive report released today by the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute.

The report, “Finding Families for African American Children: The Role of Race and Law in Adoptions from Foster Care,” calls for major changes to better serve the needs of children of color and to improve their prospects of moving to permanent, loving homes. Among the study’s findings are:

• The Multiethnic Placement Act (MEPA) of 1994 and the Removal of Barriers to Interethnic Adoption Provisions (IEP) of 1996 have not resulted in equity in adoption for African American children.
• The “color blind” interpretations of MEPA-IEP that have served as the basis for its enforcement run counter to widely accepted best practices in adoption.
• MEPA’s call for “diligent recruitment” of prospective parents who represent the racial and ethnic backgrounds of children in foster care has not been well implemented or enforced.

+ Executive Summary (PDF; 112 KB)
+ Full Report (PDF; 396 KB)

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 28th, 2008 at 9:40 am and is filed under Children and families, Legal and law enforcement, Race, Social and cultural issues. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.