For decades, minority children have often been passed over by adoptive parents, but that trend appears to be changing
Bruce and Robbie Crowell, of Medford, were told white babies are the preferred choice in adoption because white couples want infants who look like them.
Counselors at the adoption agency also told the couple that adopting a white baby could take years, but adopting a minority infant might mean a call within weeks. For every 10 white babies adopted, only one child of color was adopted, they were told.
“When I heard that, I said ‘No! We’re going to get a minority baby,” said Robbie Crowell, 45, a petite, fair-skinned blonde. “It made me so sad to know there are a lot of African-American babies out there needing to be adopted, and because they’re not white, they’re not getting picked.”
But the trend of systemic racism in U.S. adoptions that dates back to the 1850s and earlier may be changing — albeit slowly.
Oregon Child Welfare and local adoption agencies are reporting an increase in the number of families interested in adopting children of color. Oregon’s 2019 Child Welfare Data Book shows nearly 26% of all adoptions during the year represented children of racial and ethnic minority groups, up from 21.5% in federal fiscal year 2018.
The state’s overall number of adoptions increased by 130 children in 2019 to 780. Children of color accounted for 200 of the adoptions, an increase of 57 from 2018. The largest ethnic minority group represented in overall adoptions was Hispanic children, accounting for 16%, followed by Black children, at 5%. The majority of Oregon adoptions, 73%, were white children.
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While the data book pointed to an increase in adoptions of minority children, it also showed the continued high demand for adoptive homes for children of color.
“We know there is more work to do,” said Sunny Petit, press secretary for the Oregon Department of Human Services.
The statistics reveal Black children have an average 36-month “length of stay” in foster care before they are adopted or reunified or otherwise exit the system. Native American and Alaskan Native children spend an average of 31 months in foster care, while white children spend an average of 26 months.
Petit said a contributing factor to the inequity in length of stay is that Black and Native American children tend to come into Oregon’s foster care system at an older age.
“That may be due to the families’ mistrust in the system,” Petit said.
She said the age difference means most infants — the age most adoptive families are requesting — who are legally available for adoption in the state system tend to be white. Child Welfare employees stressed these adoptions happen only after every effort has been made to reunify children with their biological families.
“We know there are racially disproportionate data and are committed to tackling systemic racism that exists in child welfare,” Petit said while also pointing to a need for change in the broader community.
The Crowell family considered adopting through the state and even became foster parents for two special-needs children, but the couple repeatedly had their hearts broken when the children were instead placed with relatives.
After three years of trying in vitro fertilization and one year of fostering, they pursued private adoption — and again faced disappointment.
PLAN Loving Adoptions Now, which was a McMinnville-based adoption agency, assured the Crowell family a short wait since it was a minority adoption. Two weeks later, someone in Florida selected the couple to be her newborn’s adoptive parents, but just as the couple were about to fly across the country, they received word it was a scam.
The birth mother had four other families lined up for the same infant. “She was trying to sell the baby to whoever would pay the most money,” Robbie Crowell said. “At that point, I just shut the door to the baby’s room. I had reached my limit.”
After taking a break to refocus, the Crowells decided to give PLAN one more shot. The next day, they received word that someone in Texas was about to give birth to an African-American baby by cesarean section, and she picked Robbie and Bruce to be the adoptive parents.
“She said she saw how loving we were with all the kids we’d had in our lives — how they all had smiles on their faces,” Robbie Crowell said, referring to the birth mother’s observations from the couple’s homemade autobiography book. “She knew we were the ones.”
Ella, now 12, was born on Mother’s Day. Crowell said the birth mother just asked them, “You want to go meet your baby?”
The couple understood from the beginning that a transracial adoption comes with added responsibilities.
“Family chimed in with their insecurities,” Crowell said. “They were afraid people would stare at us; we’d have to learn a whole new culture, and Black people wouldn’t like the idea.”
Crowell said people do stare, but she hardly notices anymore.
They do continually educate themselves about Black history and culture, reading books on racial bias, celebrating African American holidays, and learning new hairstyles and braiding techniques.
“But in 12 years, I’ve never had one Black person say anything negative,” Crowell said. She cannot say the same for some white people.
When the couple adopted their second daughter, Acacia, now 8, in Georgia, a woman stopped Bruce Crowell in their hotel lobby as he brought the baby home from the hospital.
“The woman asked Bruce, ‘What is she? Indian?” Robbie Crowell said. “Bruce told her African American, and the woman said, ‘At least it’s a white family raising her.’”
Crowell said the family navigates more than just racist or awkward comments. Complete strangers will walk up to her daughters to touch their hair and braids without permission.
Crowell said most folks are simply curious, but she’s been happy to see an increase in awareness during the Black Lives Matter protests. Many of her own friends have reached out to say they now recognize their white privilege.
“It’s nice to see people learning and growing,” Crowell said. And she has her own learning curve when she answers her daughters’ questions about race, she said. “Acacia asked, ‘Am I going to get hurt because I’m Black?’”
Shari Levine, executive director of Open Adoption & Family Services in Portland, said the agency has an intensive process for adoptive parents to go through to make sure they are prepared to adopt a child of color.
“We are really looking at promoting racial and ethnic pride,” Levine said. “Can families develop a sense of multicultural competence within their family? Are they prepared to guide the child through acts of racism and discrimination in our culture?”
Open Adoption & Family Services is also experiencing an increase in families, including families of color, interested in adopting minority children. Levine said 83% of its adoptive families have gone through the training and are prepared to adopt a child of color. In the past three years, 46% of children placed through the agency were minorities, an increase from 27% the prior three years (2014-17).
Open Adoption & Family Services is an open adoption agency, meaning in simple terms that birth parents, adoptive parents and child enter into a lifelong relationship with open communication and visits. Birth parents select an adoptive family or individual from the pool of clients. After they meet, all parties decide if they feel a connection and want to proceed.
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That openness is what drew Dawn Cypress Broadnax, 43, and her husband, Troy, 51, of Eugene, to the agency. “We really wanted that connection with the birth family,” she said.
The couple decided adoption was their best option for parenting after Dawn had to undergo two kidney transplants due to complications from lupus. As an interracial couple, they wanted to adopt a multiracial baby. Troy describes himself as Black, Native American and New Mexican. Dawn is white.
As part of the adoption process, Open Adoption & Family Services provided the couple with a list of questions to help them explore what they were looking for in a baby and birth parents, including questions about the baby’s race and possible exposure to drugs and alcohol.
“It was one of those scary things,” Dawn Cypress Broadnax said. “We didn’t really want to say no to anything; you know, beggars can’t be choosers. But we did want a mixed-race baby, or any ethnicity, because that’s what we are.”
Troy Cypress Broadnax said they faced scrutiny from friends and family. One friend asked them, “Wouldn’t you just like to have a healthy baby?”
“It was a hard thing,” Dawn Cypress Broadnax said. “We were gutted, for so many reasons.”
After 3 1/2 years of waiting, the couple eventually decided to open their adoption specifications to include all races and ethnicities. Two years later, they finally “got the call.”
“By that time, we had let go of the race thing,” Dawn Cypress Broadnax said. “We knew we were going to get the child we were supposed to get.”
As it turned out, a birth mother in Washington had some very similar ideas about adoption.
“She said, because we were mixed-race, and she knew this baby would be as well, she wanted that for her child,” Cypress Broadnax said.
Their son, Kylen, now 2, is white and one-quarter African American.
“We were just so overjoyed and giddy,” Cypress Broadnax said, “like when you pull in your arm in at the elbow and just say, ‘Yes!’”
She later said, “It wasn’t about judgment. It was just about what was in our hearts and what was right for our family.”
As agencies recruit more families of color to become adoptive parents, Open Adoption & Family Services is also reaching out to pregnant women and new mothers — of all races and ethnicities — whose babies may be headed for foster care or state adoption.
The adoption agency is collaborating with the Oregon Department of Human Services to offer training to DHS and Child Protective Services workers about the benefits of open adoption so those workers can better explain open adoption to struggling mothers who are looking for another option.
“It may be appealing to many moms who have already experienced foster care or state adoption for their child,” Levine said.
“Maybe in the past, DHS has had the mother meet certain requirements to reunite with her child — and she’s tried but has been unsuccessful and feels she can’t meet that challenge,” Levine said, “so she wants to plan an open adoption so she can have choices and a lifelong relationship with her child.”
In working with Oregon Child Welfare, Levine said, this is the only collaboration of its kind in the nation to provide birth parents with an open adoption alternative to foster care and state adoption. At this point, 1,200 state employees have completed the training. Oregon DHS staff members now refer mothers interested in open adoption to Open Adoption & Family Services.
“We want to redefine adoption,” Levine said, “as a process where the mom is empowered, with resources and information, and is actively making vital choices for her child, where she feels heard, valued and respected.”
Levine expects the initiative to increase the diversity of children available for adoption in Oregon, and that highlights the need for more adoptive homes for children of color.
Unlike Open Adoption & Family Services, 95% of U.S. adoption agencies are religiously affiliated, and Levine believes that within that religious framework, a “white savior complex” can be found that harkens back to white privilege.
“It’s a sense that white culture is the prominent, better culture,” she said, “and white families should adopt children of color to save them.”
Levine disagreed with that ideology, saying it can set up an adoptive family for failure. She said families must be prepared to talk openly with their adopted children about racial issues — and include the voices of people of color.
“I’ve heard it said, your child shouldn’t be the first person of color in your life,” she said. “You should already have those relationships and feel comfortable with people who can serve as mentors for your child.”
The Crowells in Medford have made it a point to reach out to the local African-American community in their area. The parents have taken steps to ensure their daughters have Black friends, teachers and doctors. They attend support group meetings for families with minority children and participate in cultural festivals and holidays.
Robbie Crowell said she believes it’s her duty not only to show her children there’s a bigger world out there but also to encourage others to take a look around and appreciate families of all shades.
“If people could realize this is just our family,” she said. “We don’t feel different because we’re a multi-cultural family. We feel blessed.”
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