How to Find and Keep Families for African American Children

Historically, black families have taken care of children without regard for biological ties. While this fact makes African Americans comfortable with the concept of adoption, blacks have also experienced rejection and a lack of support from agencies and institutions. Recruitment efforts must help overcome the black communityís mistrust of agencies.

But how, you ask? Review the questions below.

Does your agency:

Disseminate a written adoption policy and process to applicants?

Frequently and consistently reach out to the black community through civic organizations, churches, or social clubs?

Request financial information only after establishing a relationship with the family?

Use simple application forms that do not ask unnecessary questions about fertility, complete work history, etc.?

Adequately prepare families to deal with issues related to adopting older children?

Routinely involve black adoptive families in recruiting and preparing prospective adopters?

Maintain a network of black professionals and colleagues outside the agency to turn to for advice and assistance?

Does your agency consistently demonstrate these courtesies to families? Sometimes? Never? Effective family recruitment programs establish a presence in the black community; respect the families who respond; remain available, organized, and responsive; and provide both sufficient preparation and post-placement services to parents.

Establish a Presence

When agency personnel plan an outreach campaign for black families, they tend to blanket the areaís black churches with appeal letters, often in conjunction with another event such as Black History Month. When this method fails to generate an enthusiastic response, agency staff wonder what to do next.

The blanket approach is, however, bound to fail because it does not show an urgent need for adoptive families. African Americans tend to personalize relationships instead of responding to people by their professional role. Demonstrate a genuine need by selecting up to three churches with which to build a close, ongoing relationship. Then be persistent. Call the minister, talk to his wife, place a letter in the bulletin, attend church celebrations, and visit ministry groups. When they see you and your message time and again, you will hook families in a way mass mailings never could.

Donít limit yourself to the church; use similar persistence to find prospective parents in all the places families go: Head Starts, day care centers, YMCAs, beauty and barber shops, grocery stores, civic organizations, or fraternities and sororities. Develop relationships with black community membersóif you have a network of area experts on your side, you can ask them to list additional places where black people gather.

The black media is an excellent tool for establishing a presence in the community. When your agency solicits help from black media, however, recognize that they are approached frequently by agencies with worthwhile causes. Donít expect in-kind advertising space, public service announcements, or feature articles. Make a sincere, respectful offer of payment, and if you cannot afford the full cost of advertising, at least make an effort to help your media partners recover some of their costs.

Respect Families

While building a presence in the black community, you must demonstrate respect. Avoid the temptation to push your own solutions onto the community. Explain, "We have a problem because a lot of African American children need good homes," and ask, "Can you help?" Give the community a chance to share their solutions. Then, when they suggest a hot dog sale or a gospel choir event, be prepared to follow through. If you are unwilling to give up some of the agencyís power, youíre sending a message that you donít respect their ideas or appreciate their help.

Respect is also essential as your outreach efforts begin to generate inquiry calls. Some practices from the early days of adoption-which encouraged workers to operate in suspicion of families-wrongly remain guiding principles today. Workers are taught to look for key responses to standard questions and screen out those who do not supply the formulaic answers. When a black parent says she wants to adopt because, "God led me to do this," don't see her as overly religious. Consider how faith may help during difficult times. If a parent shares that he is already raising a child with a learning disability, don't think "this father doesn't have time for another child with special needs." See him as someone who can be realistic about his commitment to a child. Strong black families can be found in any socioeconomic group. Doctors, teachers, and custodians can all make great parents.

Be Available, Organized, and Responsive

Finding interested black families is just the first step. To hold on to those families, you must offer consistently good customer service. Black families are accustomed to poor treatment from historically white institutions, so if you don't return their calls or forget to send a promised package, youíre saying loud and clear that your agency does not really need or want black families to adopt.

From the first phone call, Another Choice works to keep families motivated. In the initial packet, prospective adopters receive a list of adoption steps so they can keep track of their progress. We let families know that adopting is likely to be one of the hardest things they'll ever do, and we explain that sometimes factors beyond our control will delay their adoption. But we promise that we will hold their hand every step of the way. Then, when a family completes a step in the process, we call to say thank you and remind them what to do next.

When families don't have a completed family assessment, we keep them interested by telling them about waiting children-especially teenagers and sibling groups-for whom we are seeking matches. This helps families think about the kinds of kids we place, and assures them that their home is truly needed. Families know that these children will probably not be placed with them, so they are excited when the children find a home. And they know that soon their family will grow too.

Prepare and Support

At Another Choice, the adoption process begins with an orientation, followed by 30 hours of family preparation classes. From the very first session, our training also includes adoptive families-and not just the ones who had a smooth ride. When families who experienced major challenges come to share, the class receives a true indication of what to expect. Experienced parents also help would-be adopters to see that everyday people can adopt successfully.

Classes are interactive, nonjudgmental, and honest. Prospective parents contribute to their own training experience and our agency staff give up some of the control to let parents know the agency trusts them to make sound decisions. Particularly when training African Americans, workers must empower families, commend their efforts, and encourage them to trust their instincts.

At the same time, families need permission to turn to you for help. When pre-adoptive training or the placement of a child in the home forces a family to face up to one of their shortcomings, it is your agencyís duty to help the family grow without belittling or saying, "I told you so."

At Another Choice, we say that post-placement services begin the day before a child arrives in the home. Some of the most successful components of our post-adoption support system include respite services, "For Daddies Only" and "Sister to Sister" support groups, after-school tutoring, and an annual event for all the families who have adopted through the agency.

Another Choice has been blessed with success-success that is closely linked to the comprehensive approach we use to recruit and retain black families. Starting from the way we reach out to the African American community, through the preparation and post-adoptive period, we show families that they are worthy of our respect and praise. The black community is prepared to take care of its children, if only agencies are prepared to extend a sincere invitation. Ask yourself some hard questions and grow from your answers

Ruth Amerson, founder and director of Another Choice for Black Children in North Carolina, explains her philosophy for finding families in simple terms: "Kids grow better in families and all kinds of people make great families." Her approach has been instrumental in placing more than 300 children-primarily older African American children often in sibling groups-in the five years since Another Choice opened its doors. Below, we share some of the secrets Ruth related to NACAC regarding her agencyís success.