Knowledge and
experience in the adoption field have proved that a child need not
be “matched” to look like adoptive parents in order
to achieve a happy family for either the child or parents. In our
changing world there are many families who can accept and love a
child who looks different than themselves. The Louise Wise Services
believes that race is not necessarily the sole criterion for placement.
More important is the suitability of the prospective parents and
their ability to care for and love the child as their own. The search
for white families is to supplement and not supplant the agency’s
recruitment of Negro adoptive families, who are wanted more than
ever. . . .
Negro-white adoptions obviously are not the answer
to the problem of homeless Negro children in all parts of the country.
But Louise Wise Services believes that a city like New York, with
its varied cultures and cosmopolitan neighborhoods, ought to be
able to welcome interracial families. The agency has found a warm
response to its boarding families that have provided pre-adoptive
care to children without regard to race.
The Louise Wise Services is fully aware of the
questions raised by Negro-white adoptions. Not the least of these
questions is: Is it fair to the Negro child to be placed in a white
home? The answer must certainly be that there may be problems arising
out of such a placement. But the agency is also questioning whether
it is fair to keep a Negro child out of a white home if the alternative
is for him to have no home at all.
Such adoptions have been carried out successfully
in a number of communities in the United States and Canada. Minnesota
has had an outstanding program. White adoptive parents there reported
that they had anticipated far more problems than had actually arisen.
They found great support from neighbors, friends and relatives.
They found that family life was more interesting and fuller than
ever before. A number of families have applied for second Negro
youngsters. It must be noted that most of the Negro-white adoptions
reported on are fairly new. None of the children have reached adulthood
yet. But the adoptive parents involved do not seem to worry about
the future unduly. . . .
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