Interracial Adoptions

Among the controversial issues in adoption law is interracial adoptions--particularly adoption of African-American children by white parents. In 1972, a spokesperson for the Association of Black Social Workers condemned interracial adoptions as “racial genocide.”

Proponents of interracial adoptions note that there are tens of thousands of black children in foster care available for adoption, but there are not enough black families available to adopt them. The proponents argue that a child is better off being adopted by a family of a different race than not being adopted at all.

Federal laws pertaining to interethnic adoptions provide that states shall diligently recruit “potential foster and adoptive families that reflect the ethnic and racial diversity of children in the State for whom foster and adoptive homes are needed.” At the same time, federal law provides that persons and government agencies involved in adoption or foster care may not deny or delay placing a child for adoption or foster case because of the race or the prospective adoptive or foster parents.