Been here. Done this. But it is unending work. This morning, I got an email from an acquaintance (who is African American) asking me to talk a bit about how I feel about the doubts of Black people about Black-white transracial adoption. The usual questions: should white people adopt Black children? Can white people adequately address race in America as they raise children of color? What should white people have to do (if anything) before being allowed to parent Black children? –are suddenly in play again.
I am bizybizybizy, so I am going to post my response to my friend here, for you to read over my shoulder, complete with links to some of my past writing on the issue.
But if you read no further, take this away: Everyone is asking the WRONG questions. The question we should be asking is: How did so many children of color come to be in the child welfare system in the first place?
We need to tackle that before we get sidetracked worrying about the still tiny minority of adoptions that are white-parents/Black children. Because in spite of media attention, they are still the tiny minority.
Without further ado, my response to my friend:
Hi M,
This is a question that comes up frequently. (And I
am totally not offended or uncomfortable or whatever. Ask away.) I can
definitely point you at some scholarship that has been of great import
to me in thinking through the question. But meanwhile, I'll summarize
it by saying that Black/white adoptions are still QUITE rare in the
U.S., in spite of media attention that over represents them and makes
them seem like a "trend" or a "fad."
In fact, Black
children–even healthy newborns (like my children)–are still at the
very bottom of the adoption hierarchy (healthy, white, newborn girls
being at the top, African American boys of any age or health status
being at the bottom).
That doesn't mean that when Black/white
transracial adoption happens, issues of race aren't important, and I for
one think the "training" sometimes given to prospective white parents
of Black children is not just woefully inadequate, but sometimes even
counter-productive. A little knowledge can be a dangerous thing.
I
have a post at my blog that lays out what I'd like to see prospective
white parents read and learn about African American history before
adopting Black children. And dare I say, the same goes for parents
adopting children from Africa, who will grow up to be African American,
after all.
But anyway, I like both Dorothy Roberts (esp.
"Shattered Bonds: the Color of Child Welfare") and Randall Kennedy,
"Interracial Intimacies" (which is a different angle from Roberts but
also excellent) as introductions to the real meat of this issue.
The
question is not "Should white people raise Black children?" (frankly
Black and white people have been family for…ever) but "why are Black
children over represented in child welfare systems in the first place?"
(Short answer: white supremacy, duh.)
And finally, yes, the
media is HORRIBLE on this issue. White people heroically saving
children from their blackness, yadda yadda. It's just appalling. The
flipside of the all-loving mammy who sacrifices herself inscrutably for
white people.
I haven't been able to bring myself to watch the
Blindside, much as I know it's my responsibility as an anti-ractist
white intellectual to do so and tear it to shreds as publicly as
possible. Will get to that as soon as I can stomach it.
And you
are tripping my guilt at abandoning a plan I had to implement a reading
group for the white parents of Black children this year. I got side
tracked writing my novels. But I will have to get back to it, because I
do feel it's something I am uniquely equipped to offer.
Here's
some of my past writing on the topic:
http://lilysea.blogs.com/peterscrossstation/2008/05/transracial-ado.html
http://lilysea.blogs.com/peterscrossstation/2008/07/if-i-was-in-cha.html
http://lilysea.blogs.com/peterscrossstation/2008/07/more-on-reading.html
http://lilysea.blogs.com/peterscrossstation/2007/11/wendy-asks-me-1.html
http://lilysea.blogs.com/peterscrossstation/2007/11/more-on-money-a.html
Feel
free to continue the discussion. I'm super glad you asked. Because
keeping it all hush-hush is not good for my family.
whoooo! I am glad you wrote about this now, I just saw the news and thought, oh boy there is now going to be a backlash of sorts. Part of me feels rebelliously like-Hey! Maybe we should be celebrating the joy and love she is now experiencing being a family as I hope people feel happy for our family without being so narrowed by the “Issues” of trans-racial adoption. We want people to accept our families for just that, normal families. I am not putting my head in the sand about the very real things our families and daughters face, but I wish we could maybe be happy for them both too.
Studies have shown that transracially adopted kids actually do a better job at establishing their racial identity. I see no problem with transracial adoptions.
I agree to the point that the larger issue is why are black children so outnumber in the adoption system. They only outnumber white children by 10%, but that is still very significant.
I do wonder if someone like Whoopie Goldberg adopted a white child, what the reaction would be.
This is such a tough issue all around. I have read enough about transracial adoptions, here and elsewhere, to be convinced that while it can be a wonderful thing it definitely requires more than ‘colorblindness’ to do well. And yet if I tell a social worker that my life is not well-suited to providing the kind of family I think a black child needs and therefore request that I be considered only for white kids, I doubt that’s going to go over well.
Here’s hoping that we find a way to do a better job on this issue, for everyone’s sake. And absolutely, including addressing the reasons for the problem in the first place.