Trans-racial adoption and foster care...?

Question

Is it that important to match foster and adoptive children with parents of their own race? Also, what is more important, a loving supportive home or strictly transferring 'cultural values'?

"At the heart of the debate is the fact that the foster care system has a disproportionately high number of black children, and on average they languish there nine months longer than white children before moving to permanent homes. The latest federal figures showed 32 percent of the 510,000 children in foster care were black in 2006, compared to 15 percent of all U.S. children."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080527/ap_on_re_us/transracial_adoption;_ylt=AvGH6fZ6JwifQYnL1TdGIG1vzwcF

Answer 1

I think if a child and adoptive parents hit it off, race should not be a factor. Inter-racial adoption just proves that the parents aren't racist and are likely to be good people all round. It's a shame that black children have to wait longer to become adopted. I hope inter-racial celebrity adoption can help change this but there is a chance the adoption agencies will just think people are trying to copy the celebrities as a bit of a novelty. It seems so logical to me to find homes for those who have been waiting longest and to ignore the issue of race.

Answer 2

I don't think it's *that* important.  I say this as a white woman who has a half-black adopted cousin.  It can work.  I also find it really admirable when an adoptive or foster parent doesn't place a priority on the child looking like *them*, because it shows that ego's not such an issue.  Of course, a child who is adopted at an older age and blatantly doesn't look like her parents never has to face that traumatic day when they find out they're adopted, either.  (I still remember seventh-grade biology, when a girl in my class learned there was no way she could have gotten her brown eyes from her two blue-eyed parents, and that something in her life wasn't the way she thought!)

However, I do think the white foster parents should have some sort of training in the different things their child might experience (like being called certain names) and should make an effort to find black role models and friends for their children.  (I would say the same thing for any other combination of races.)  I also would hope that black people who think black kids should have black parents are willing to step up and take some of these children in themselves.  Otherwise, they can shut the h**l up!