![]() ![]() Second, while there are way more white couples who say they want to adopt white children only there are approximately 24 white couples available to every white child available for adoption some of us don’t care what color the child is. ![]() And, despite what some may believe, black birth mothers sometimes choose white parents to adopt their children, even when there are available black couples. The reasons for this are debatable, complicated and numerous, ranging from socioeconomic disparity to cultural norms to familial beliefs and traditions. Look on any major adoption agency’s website under “waiting families,” and you’ll see what I mean the couples smiling back at you are predominantly white. I am not an adoption professional with a title, but I can share with you from experience and research some possible answers to the “why.”įirst, there aren’t enough black, adoptive couples willing, able, or available to adopt black children. Even little kids look back and forth between my daughters and me and ask, “Why are they brown?” It’s hard for me to respond, mainly because I”m often caught off guard by these questions and because there is no right answer that will satisfy their curious minds. I have been asked the “why do white people adopt black babies?” question many times from people of various ages and races. Then he asked in a sincere tone, “Why didn’t you adopt one of your own kind?” I said, “Yes.” He said, “Is she really your child?” “Yes,” I said, growing irritated. Once I was preparing to take a weight lifting class at my gym when a black man in his sixties approached me and asked if the little girl I carried in with me every day was my child. We have been asked horrendously nosy questions: Why didn’t you want your own kids? Are your girls real sisters? Why didn’t their birth mothers love them? I have been stopped in restaurants, airplanes, bathrooms and stores by strangers trying to figure out what’s up with my family. In addition to racial prejudices, my family is sometimes treated as second-class because we came together through adoption instead of biology. As an English teacher, I read many books, and I can recall the numerous titles that talked about whites using slave children as entertainment at dinner parties while the children”s black parents looked on, powerless to stop the disgusting circus, knowing that at any moment, their kids could be sold to the highest bidder, stripped forever from their biological parents.Īs an adoptive mom to two black children, and thus, the matriarch of a transracial family, I can testify that white privilege, prejudice, and stereotypes against black people still exist despite the number of people who claim to be colorblind. From slavery to unethical medical experimentation to Jim Crow laws and more, history demonstrates that white people haven’t always been very kind to people of color, to say the least. Written By Rachel Garlinghouse Originally posted at Īfrican Americans have every reason to be suspicious of white people adopting black babies.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |