Madonna did it. Tom Cruise did it. Angelina and Brad did it. It seems to be the new Hollywood craze—affluent celebrities adopting children from different countries, of various nationalities, with seeming ease in transition. The perception some may have is that adoption is something that can be done on a whim and with little thought, but the contrary is quite true.

“Adopting or putting a baby or child up for adoption is a life changing decision and should be well thought out and analyzed,” says Hilary Neiman of The National Adoption and Surrogacy Center, LLC.  Drawing from her experience as a private practice adoption lawyer, Neiman spends her work time preparing potential parents for their journey toward becoming adoptive parents. Neiman finds it most important now, more than ever, to educate those who are considering adopting on the specifics of the process because of some of the misconceptions that still swirl around the subject of adoption.

“Some birth mom's prefer placing the baby with a married or successful couple,” Neiman says,  “but the majority just want to make sure their baby is in a loving home where it will be well taken care of.”

This reality rings true particularly for African-Americans.

Rashida Brown, an adoption social worker and independent contractor for National Adoption and Surrogacy Center (NASC) located in Rockville, MD states “as the number of African-American children becoming placed for adoption remains the same, the need for African-American adoptive families still rises.”

Today, Brown says, a large number of African-American single women are adopting and consider adoption as the number one way of building their family. Yet, African-American adoptive families are still less abundant when compared to the numbers of white couples adopting black children. Some experts on adoption believe that the reason lies in the misunderstanding of the adoption process among those in the African-American community.   

African-American children and Adoption
In her presentation at the 17th Annual Statewide Adoption Training Conference in May 2006 in Albany, NY, Dr. Ruth McRoy, a research professor at the University of Texas, presented research that indicates that African-American children represent 35% of children placed in the foster care system and 40% of children waiting to be adopted.  Although the statistics have decreased over the years, Dr. McRoy asserts that it is still disproportionate when compared to statistics for white children.

“The medium length of stay in foster care for black children was 18 months, and for white children it was ten months in 2000,” she says.

The Multi-Ethnic Placement Act, was created in the 1970’s specifically in recognition of this disparity,  in an effort to encourage trans-racial adoption situations for black children who are waiting to be adopted.

“This law was created to decrease the length of time that black youth linger in foster care. Adoption professionals are making every effort to find permanent homes for children, regardless of race,” says Brown.

With that being said, educating potential African-American adopting parents is the key to increasing the pool of qualified African-American families who might adopt African-American children.

The NASC  largely serves African American communities and outreaches to African-American couples and singles considering adoption as an option towards family building.  According to Brown, “NASC and agencies like us strive to eliminate foster care altogether and work to place children directly into the care and guardianship of the selected adopting parents.”

 Encouraging the Adoption of Older Children
“Newborn infants are the most likely to be adopted,” says Neiman.  “Couples and individuals favor adopting newborns because they want to be able to raise the child from the very beginning of the child's life.”

This was true for the Fortons* who adopted their daughter, an African-American infant in 2007 after a six month process. Nella Forton, 38 who is white and her husband Bill, 43, an African-American, adopted their daughter after several miscarriages, and their unwillingness to go through in vitro fertilization.

“I didn’t want to put my body through that,” said Nella Forton.

So, after careful reflection and consultation with family and friends, the Fortons embarked on a six-month process that ended with their recent adoption.

“Going into it, we thought it would take years and would be financially draining,” says Forton,  But, the whole process only took six months and wasn’t as expensive as we had thought.  We were very happy with the whole process.”

What to Do First When Considering Adopting

1. Meet with an adoption attorney or adoption agency
   There are many options that families can consider when thinking about adopting,” says Brown. She and Neiman encourage all families to do lots of research and consider the different types of adoption prior to choosing an agency or law practice.
2. Decide what age and sex of child they are looking to adopt
   For example, public agencies usually serve older children, while private agencies and independent practices serve pregnant woman who voluntarily place their infants for adoption.
3. Decide whether you wish to have contact with a child's birth parents or would prefer no contact.
   Previously, adoptions were very closed. Birth parents usually had no contact with their child after the adoption and no contact with the adoptive family.
   “Nowadays,” Brown says, “birth parents often want to know if their children are happy and healthy.  While it is a very emotional and hard decision to make, birth parents still want to know if their children are okay.”
   Open adoption can simply mean sending pictures and letters to the birth parent yearly just to give their birth parents updates about their child or visits during birthdays, holidays and agreed upon times between the adopting family and birth parents. It may seem threatening to some parents, but it can actually provide a healthy connection between the adoptive and birth family as the child grows older and has the option of knowing their birth origin. Studies have shown that this can be important for an adoptee as they become teenagers and young adults-- especially for ethnic children growing up in non-ethnic homes.
4. Develop a financial budget of what you intend to spend on the process.

Being realistic about what you can spend is important.  Neiman says, “Think about how much the parents have to spend on the adoption or where they can raise money for the adoption.”  Brown adds, “It saves families lots of time and emotional distress to be clear about the costs.”  Adoption costs can typically range from $5,000 to $30,000 depending on where you choose to adopt a child from and what adoption agency you work with.

For more information on how to become an adopting parent or if you are pregnant and considering adoption, contact Hilary Neiman at neimanlaw@hilaryneiman.com or Rashida Brown at rashida@adoptsurrogacy.com