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Should Black children only be adopted by Black parents? yes, they must be taught coping techniques to deal with racist practices

The adoption of African-American children by families in the African-American community is important in raising healthy children and crucial to making the community a strong, positive force in this society.

My conclusions are based on my professional practice as a Child Protective Services supervisor for 29 years and my position as leader of the National Association of Black Social Workers (NABSW), whose primary focus is the preservation of the African-American family.

African-American infants and children being adopted by non-African-American families is not in the best interest of the children because we live in a society where African-American people are ascribed an inferior status based solely on race. This attitude and thought process can be traced back to Africans brought to this country, legislated as three-fifths human, and considered as stock. Though legislation has attempted to erase some of this degradation, laws cannot change the hearts and souls of a people. For African-Americans, this reality is often a vicious, insidious, dehumanizing and degrading form of racism and oppression.

African-American children should be reared by African-American families because they must be taught from an early age highly sophisticated coping techniques in order to deal with racist practices. African-American children should not have to live in an environment where their hair texture is likened to a "scouring pad" or where their hair is cut off because the parents don't know how to care for it; or they have an ashy appearance because the parents don't understand the nature of Black skin.

Singled out for its position on transracial adoption 36 years ago, a position that has been distorted and misunderstood, NABSW has always maintained the importance of finding culturally grounded options for children of African ancestry before giving consideration to placing our children outside the community. The position was not based on racial hatred or bigotry. It was not an attack on parents of other racial backgrounds or the belief that White families could not love Black children. A former president of the group, the late Dr. Morris F.X. Jeff Jr., once said, "Love is not enough to give a child a sense of belonging, to hold him safe against the experiences of isolation and alienation, of feeling adrift without a sense of anchor in the world. Love is necessary, but it is not sufficient. Children must be equipped, empowered with the arsenal of their cultural traditions and heritage to protect and shield them so that the seeds of love will have a chance to survive and flourish in self-esteem, self-respect, racial identity and self-protection without denial of the gifts of race and color God has so purposefully bestowed upon them."

Currently there are more than 500,000 children in foster care in the United States. Of that number, African-American children represent a highly disproportionate number of those and they remain in the system longer than their counterparts from other racial groups. It is good news to know that the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, under the phenomenal leadership of Mrs. Joyce James, is at the forefront of the effort to cope with this disparity. The state analyzed data related to removals of children from homes, reviewed policies and developed plans to remedy disparities. Other states should look at Texas as a model.

Since children are best reared in families like themselves, it amazes me that we continue this debate year after year. We know from experience that African-American people are willing to adopt but may not have considered adoption because of real and perceived barriers that they will face at agencies, such as lack of financial assistance and restrictions on single-parent adoptions. All of us have a responsibility to tear down the barriers.

In spite of the propaganda, there are many African-American families available to adopt the thousands of African-American children lingering in the foster care system. There are many experts in the field of Black adoption who are willing to consult and/or train foster care/adoption staff on how to break down barriers. And there are Black adoption agencies like Homes for Black Children in Detroit, Roots in Atlanta, Institute for Black Parenting in Los Angeles, Another Choice in North Carolina and others.

All families have dreams. The dreams of African-American families are rooted in the past (our heritage); in the present (our communities); and in the future (our children).

Gloria Batiste-Roberts is the national president of The National Association of Black Social Workers (NABSW), a retired Child Protective Services supervisor and adjunct professor of social work at Texas Southern University.