American Children Are Being Adopted in Foreign Landsby Fatherofeight | More from this Blogger 04 Jan 2007 09:59 AM There is a problem in this country. The majority of the families that consider adopting children are Caucasian. The majority of the children that need to be adopted are African American. The number of foreign children that are being adopted by Americans is increasing. African American babies are being sent to foreign countries. The United States is sending African American newborns to Canada and Western Europe. The families that receive these children say that their primary motive for taking them is that they wanted a newborn baby, without regard to that baby's race. They say that there is no bias in their country towards African Americans so they do not expect any future problems concerning race. The average couple seeking to adopt in this country has very identifiable preferences. They prefer to have as young a child as possible. Next, the preference is for girls over boys. Finally, there is a strong preference for Caucasian children, with African American children being at the other end of this spectrum. Other races and mixed race children are all somewhere in the middle. Skin color is a very important factor. I am sixty years old and my wife is fifty-one. We are Caucasian. We have adopted five mixed race boys, four of whom are considered African American. From the very start, we wanted to adopt children of color. It makes us very sad that our boys will have to deal with bias in their lives. Why is this happening? Some people want any child that is not African American. Others have been led to seek out a child in a foreign land; maybe they are partial to a distant part of the world. Other people would worry about how their parents, siblings, aunts, and uncles might take the news. Finally, they might worry about trying to span the cultural gap. I am not trying to offend anyone. Some of our very closest friends have adopted children from other countries. I am troubled that children born in this country are being sent to foreign lands because there is not a place for them here. What do you think? Related Blogs: Relevantadoption tags relationships | pregnancy | baby | christmas | Scrapbooking | parenting | family | holidays | children | Food User Comments  Tristi Pinkston (10839) 04 Jan 2007 10:33 AMThat bugs me a lot! America has always held itself up as an example to the rest of the world and we can't even take care of our own? For what it's worth, I live in Utah and I have noticed several families at the grocery store where the parents are Caucasian and the children are African American. Hopefully people will continue to reach out to take in children of another color.  Linda Hansen (1796) 04 Jan 2007 11:13 AMHas our country forgotten we are the "melting pot" of the world? Artcraft PATTI (580) 04 Jan 2007 12:44 PMDear Ed, May you have wisdom and strength as you rear these little boys. Good job. PATTI I agree with you wholeheartedly... We need to tend to our own. PATTI  Fatherofeight (2475) 04 Jan 2007 06:51 PMIt grieves me that US citizens are being sent to other countries because they are unwanted here.  Julie Gentry (5915) 07 Jan 2007 09:36 PMI think that sometimes the reason is not necessarily racism, but that the parents don't plan to tell the children right away that they're adopted. A little difficult to do that when your baby looks nothing like you! Thanks for this article. I would never have guessed that foreign adoptions included babies from the US! Crickett (272) 07 Jan 2007 09:56 PMTo Julie's comment- that is a good point for infant adoptions- I'm not sure how much parents can hide adoptions from children who are coming from the foster care system or who remember a different home. I would add that many people might not be hiding the adoption from the child but they don't want it to be obvious to every stranger/onlooker- they want to look like a 'traditional family' when they are in a public place. This means having kids that look like a similar race to yourself. Personally, I'm all for diversity in a family!!!! It is beautiful. ~Crickett Fatherofeight (2475) 08 Jan 2007 04:40 AMIn general, people are getting much more open in their attitudes. We have come a long way. I think it has to do somewhat with how you were raised. Where I grew up way back when, the socalled N word was very common is everyday usage. My mother spanked me for saying that word. It was made clear that the word was not to be used in our house. Fatherofeight (2475) 08 Jan 2007 04:46 AMAlmost forgot, yesterday as we were coming out of church, there was a family with three or four big boys climbing into a great big pickup truck, they were all watching out for the youngest sibling however, the prettiest little Chinese girl, she was so dressed up, blessed me to see them.  Andrea Hermitt (5512) 08 Jan 2007 07:07 AMI have never understood why people go to china and russia for babies when there are so many babies here... However the American legal System had been known to take babies back (for numerous reasons). That scares me. Fatherofeight (2475) 08 Jan 2007 10:31 AMIt scares all of us. I think that the ideal solution would be enough US adoptions to take care of all the children here and then take as many of the worlds children as possible. kcg8483 (79) 16 Jan 2007 07:00 AMCan I say that I agree with your whole heartedly! It amazes me that that the "hard to place" are the children of any other race. How can people who desire to have a child more than anything else care what color that baby or child is?? My husband and I are waiting to adopt through the foster care system (any race and gender up to 10 years old - we are 22 and 23) but have found it to be difficult so we are expanding our options to biracial and african american infants. It breaks my heart that my children will be treated as though they are not as special as the white children they "compete" against! This is def. a problem. After researching so much about adoption I realize that it really could be better for your children to know right away that they are adopted and to celebrate how they came into your lives. Even if the child doesn't look like the parents ... at two years old they aren't going to understand that they were "adopted" but if they grow up knowing it I think it would be better than finding out that surprise at 12 years old. A friend of mine adopted two children from Taiwan, an African American girl from the United States and had one biological blond hair blue eyed girl. Their family is BEAUTIFUL! I love the diversity!! All of their children (3-8 years old) know they are adopted and love looking at pictures and hearing stories how their parents adopted them! It can be an exciting thing if you make it special. Fatherofeight (2475) 16 Jan 2007 03:41 PMWell said! Now if we can find about 10,000 couples just like you. Let me know if we can help you in any way. I am excited.  Pam Connell (2658) 16 Jan 2007 04:34 PMI just want to say that I have learned so much from reading your blogs and from all those who comment on them, as well as from an African-American and Caucasian family I've met recently. Andrea I just wrote a blog on how we made our decision to adopt internationally if you are interested. I'm a little nervous to have you read it but I really respect the comments you've made on these blogs and am curious to hear what you and others have to say. The blog is called "Choosing Whether and How to Adopt Transracially: Our Decision". Also, kcg, I just posted a review of a book "Inside Transracial Adoption which may interest you. Blessings on your journey and please keep us posted!-Pam Community Tags american children adopted in for, african american, adoption, foreign adoptions, no racial bias in some countries, racial preference, race Discuss this article
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