The Boys and
Girls Aid Society of Oregon launched a transracial program in the
early 1960s and renamed it “Opportunity” in 1967. The
surveys it conducted in the late 1960s and early 1970s were (and
are) among the only sources of national and state-by-state statistical
data on the adoptions of African-American
children during a period of intense debate about where black
children belonged. The commentary that accompanies the numbers laments
the decline in transracial
adoptions and attributes it to opposition by the National
Association of Black Social Workers. To my knowledge, these
figures, which circulated in mimeographed form, have never been
previously published.
OPPORTUNITY's survey of the adoption of black
children shows a substantial decrease in the number of black children
placed in 1972 in both black and white homes as shown in the following
table:
|
1968 |
1969 |
1970 |
1971 |
1972 |
Decrease |
Total black children placed |
3122 |
4336 |
6474 |
7420 |
6065 |
18% |
Placements in black families |
2389 |
2889 |
4190 |
4846 |
4496 |
7% |
Placements in white families |
733 |
1447 |
2284 |
2574 |
1569 |
39% |
Number of responding agencies |
194 |
342 |
427 |
468 |
461 |
|
To provide comparative data, the following table
shows the placement activity of all agencies (252) which reported
from the four consecutive years 1969 through 1972:
|
1969 |
1970 |
1971 |
1972 |
Decrease |
Total black children placed |
3514 |
4808 |
5012 |
4000 |
20% |
Placements in black families |
2486 |
3063 |
3202 |
2896 |
10% |
Placements in white families |
1028 |
1745 |
1810 |
1104 |
39% |
Percentage placed in black families |
70.7 |
63.7 |
63.9 |
72.4 |
|
BLACK CHILDREN NEED HOMES
The decrease in the total number of black children placed in adoption
is particularly disturbing when one considers the tremendous backlog
of black children who are in foster homes throughout the country
solely because agencies did not have adoptive homes for them. This
condition appears slated to become worse, not better. The Child
Welfare League of America in their current study of participating
private adoption agencies states, “At no time have sufficient
non-white homes been approved to accommodate the non-white children
accepted (for adoption), and in the last period (July to December
1972) the ratio was only 59 homes per 100 children.” The picture
for the participating public agencies was even more discouraging.
The League reports, “The 20 public agencies approved 108 white
(adoptive) homes for every 100 white children but only 51 non-white
homes per 100 non-white children.”
Because of the high backlog of black children, this first year
of declining adoptions might be expected to show a percentage decrease
in white placements far larger than with black placements. The reverse
happens to be true. Total white placements by all responding agencies
totalled 32,063 in 1972, a decline of 14% from 1971. Black placements
were down 18%, a decline nearly 30% larger than for white placements.
INTERRACIAL ADOPTIONS*
The militant campaign by some black social workers against interracial
placements has obviously discouraged certain agencies from approving
white adoptive applicants, however qualified they may be. The 39%
decrease in placements of black children in white families is not
offset by more placements in black homes. Comments by the responding
agencies indicated that some had reverted to their earlier practices,
denying adoption to black children if no black families were available.
The damage to such children, like the cost of maintaining them,
is monumental. We can only hope that most adoption agencies, adoptive
parent organizations, public officials, and private citizens will
insist that every child is entitled to loving parents, regardless
of his or their color.
*OPPORTUNITY uses interracial which suggests a “blending”
in preference to transracial which connotes a bridge over a chasm.
* * *
CHILDREN PLACED BY AGENCIES FOR ADOPTION IN 1972 BY STATES &
REGIONS
U.S. Census Regions & States |
Number of Agencies |
Total Children Placed |
Black Children Placed in Black Homes |
Black Children Placed in White Homes |
New England |
36 |
1746 |
133 |
121 |
Connecticut |
7 |
558 |
87 |
47 |
Maine |
4 |
207 |
1 |
8 |
Massachusetts |
17 |
420 |
36 |
38 |
New Hampshire |
2 |
206 |
2 |
9 |
Rhode Island |
2 |
135 |
6 |
13 |
Mid Atlantic |
119 |
4417 |
1017 |
303 |
New Jersey |
9 |
911 |
258 |
74 |
New York |
38 |
1945 |
570 |
124 |
Pennsylvania |
72 |
1561 |
189 |
105 |
E. N. Central |
116 |
7822 |
1003 |
399 |
Illinois |
16 |
1005 |
211 |
56 |
Indiana |
9 |
1531 |
150 |
36 |
Michigan |
22 |
2430 |
335 |
130 |
Ohio |
61 |
1722 |
293 |
116 |
Wisconsin |
8 |
1134 |
14 |
61 |
W. N. Central |
43 |
4598 |
214 |
185 |
Iowa |
10 |
1250 |
17 |
33 |
Kansas |
3 |
516 |
74 |
20 |
Minnesota |
8 |
922 |
14 |
64 |
Missouri |
10 |
1183 |
91 |
52 |
Nebraska |
8 |
439 |
16 |
12 |
No. Dakota |
3 |
259 |
2 |
4 |
So. Dakota |
1 |
29 |
0 |
0 |
Pacific |
40 |
10344 |
809 |
335 |
Alaska |
1 |
99 |
2 |
6 |
California |
26 |
7251 |
764 |
215 |
Hawaii |
1 |
20 |
0 |
0 |
Oregon |
7 |
2444 |
18 |
71 |
Washington |
5 |
530 |
25 |
43 |
S. Atlantic |
48 |
3485 |
695 |
99 |
Delaware |
2 |
89 |
16 |
3 |
Florida |
7 |
1264 |
172 |
20 |
Georgia |
2 |
620 |
118 |
4 |
Maryland |
19 |
311 |
69 |
16 |
No. Carolina |
2 |
227 |
61 |
2 |
So. Carolina |
2 |
166 |
43 |
1 |
Virginia |
7 |
235 |
49 |
4 |
Wn. D.C. |
6 |
349 |
145 |
27 |
West Virginia |
1 |
224 |
22 |
22 |
E. S. Central |
15 |
1301 |
164 |
26 |
Alabama |
1 |
61 |
10 |
0 |
Kentucky |
5 |
619 |
45 |
23 |
Mississippi |
2 |
52 |
17 |
0 |
Tennessee |
7 |
569 |
92 |
3 |
W. S. Central |
21 |
2273 |
392 |
40 |
Arkansas |
1 |
201 |
28 |
3 |
Louisiana |
2 |
155 |
55 |
0 |
Oklahoma |
3 |
423 |
46 |
5 |
Texas |
15 |
1494 |
263 |
32 |
Mountain |
23 |
2142 |
69 |
61 |
Arizona |
4 |
261 |
17 |
14 |
Colorado |
6 |
758 |
31 |
32 |
Idaho |
1 |
128 |
0 |
1 |
Montana |
3 |
236 |
3 |
3 |
Nevada |
1 |
155 |
11 |
7 |
New Mexico |
1 |
8 |
0 |
0 |
Utah |
4 |
469 |
5 |
3 |
Wyoming |
3 |
127 |
2 |
1 |
GRAND TOTALS |
461 |
38128 |
4496 |
1569 |
|