'Small miracles': new hope for Black adoptions

Ebony, Nov, 2003 by Nikitta A. Foston

Tyler was only 2 days old, tiny, fragile and struggling to breathe--the result of the PCP in his system. But Danita and Allen Strauss loved him immediately. Eighteen months later they adopted the toddler, giving the bright-eyed and once-abandoned child a new life and new hope. Now, at 3 years old, the energetic young boy, better known as T.J., is enrolled in private school, developing and functioning normally, and giving his parents a reason to smile each day.

But not everyone is as lucky as T.J.

There are an estimated 542,000 children in foster care, with 38 percent, the largest distribution, among African-Americans. And although Black children represent the bulk of children in foster care, are seemingly the most difficult to place, and the last to be adopted--more African-Americans are adopting children and more options are available through private and public agencies.

Faced with a continuing crisis, state and private agencies are expanding their programs in an attempt to make Black people aware of the benefits of adoption while reducing the number of Black children in foster care. "It's a top priority of the department to reduce the amount of time that African-American youth spend in the system," says Brian Samuels, director of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. "The average stay for an African-American ward is 62 months, but the average stay for a Caucasian or Hispanic ward is 50 months."

The Cradle, a private agency in Evanston, Ill., that handles the most infant adoptions in the state, is also making a difference, and is doing so by securing homes for infants before they ever reach the system. Through a process known as open adoption--where birth parents choose the adoptive parents--the Cradle has been a bridge between infants and families since 1923. The Cradle's new division, the Ardythe and Gayle Sayers Center for African-American Adoption, named after the former NFL star and businessman Gayle Sayers and his wife, focuses on the growing placement needs of Black infants. The Sayerses, who now sit on the Cradle's board of directors, adopted their son Scott, now an adult, from the Cradle. Sayers, a major supporter of adoption, is founder and CEO of Sayers Group LLC, a computer supply and information technology services firm.

"This is the best-kept secret in the world," says Sandra Hill, the coordinator for the Ardythe and Gayle Sayers Center. "We have newborn babies ... healthy, beautiful babies who come from parents who want a better life for their children. These birth parents love their children enough to make a voluntary decision to trust that we will find a loving family for them," says Hill, who says the wait-time is often less than four months. "We've never had a shortage of babies, but I'm always scrambling for adoptive parents. Now, we're in a crisis because we're in a position to have to turn away African-American birth mothers because we don't have the families ready. But, it's not because they are not there. It's because they don't know that we're here."

Father George Clements, the first priest to adopt a child and the founder of One Church, One Child, an initiative that has helped families and churches adopt African-American children since 1980, says, "More African-Americans are adopting, but at the same time, more children are being funneled into the system. Teenage pregnancy, drug-addicted infants and the perception that Black children are rebellious or 'problem-children' add to the number of African-American kids in the system."

Heeding the call for action, more Black churches are creating adoption campaigns with one goal in mind--to give Black children a place to call home. The Rev. W.C. Martin, pastor of Bennett Chapel Missionary Church in Shelbyville, Texas, began Save A Generation Ministry, an adoption program that has successfully adopted 86 children into its 200-member congregation in six years. "Everyone cannot adopt, but there is no reason that everyone cannot help," says the pastor who, along with his wife Donna, specializes in placing children with special needs, including four they have personally adopted. "Someone has to be responsible for rescuing these children from the system, and the church is the key entity. The church has the ability and the power to be the thrust to make the difference."

Yet the term "special needs," often used in conjunction with foster children, is misleading and may give prospective parents a negative perception. Quite often, special needs may refer to an older child, a minority, or a child who requires placement with his siblings. "We have to educate the community on who these children are because they are in a system through no fault of their own," says Addie Hudson, associate director for external affairs for the Department of Children and Family Services in Chicago, where 82 percent of foster children are African-American. "These children are entitled to, and deserve, a permanent family. We have to keep the public informed and keep our children visible so that people recognize the issue."