Racism in Adoption: Charging Different Fees for Different Races Is Not Okay

Where are the People of Color , especially Black people in this conversation? Is this so offensive becuase it impacts you ( the commenters)now as adoptive parents? Are you advocating for other forms of racism being abolished? Were you advocating before adopting kids outside of your race? And point in fact Black people adopt more than White people- they just are more likely to adopt from the child welfare system for a variety of reasons. Thus, is it possible that a price differential is to encourage Balck people to adopt from private agencies as opposed to the system? ( Agencies that have traditionally only serviced White families. Some would argue still only service White families. ) is that even a good thing to detract people from adopting from the system? Is there a disconnect between the White adoption community and the Black adoption community? ( Yes. Just as I would argue there is a disconnect from the transracial adoptive community v same race White adoptive community. ) And finally , I am pro transracial adoption if done right.

The simple fact is that adoption IS a profit driven industry. It's over 5 billion dollars a year now and it's also unregulated. While we can wrap it up all nice and say that one is paying a fee for "services", the truth is that its the parental rights of the children that is being bought and paid for. Supply and demand DOES fall into it. And the demand is always higher for white newborns.

Not only are other races in less demand and lower priced, but as a country we export our male black children over the age of 2 to Canada for adoption. Meanwhile, we import children from other third world countries. Why? There is a greater demand to save a child form known poverty in another country rather than adopt form foster care in the US.

I know of very very very few adoption agencies in this country that really practice true ethics. Legal, yes, but not at all ethical.

And of course, the best part, is that once adopted, due to the archaic laws in most states, we then forever deny the adult adoptee their civil rights to their identity. The whole system is broken and very few people care.

Soooo, can I get slightly off topic for a moment and ask about international adoption? Many agencies working in China, Ethiopia Russia and Ukraine offer subsidies or lessened fees in part to incentivize parents to adopt children who are older (5+) and have been waiting a long time, or with special needs like CP, Downs Syndrome or HIV+ status. Would the author or other readers say this undervalues children, saying they are worth less to the agency or to parents, or do people see it as an honest attempt by the agency to place these children who truly need parents but stay on waiting lists longer?

I know many in the intl adoption community look at it as mitigating the medical costs of adopting kids with chronic needs. But I do believe the agencies want these kids adopted and to get them the hell out of orphanages and into families and want to make it more attractive to do so. Frankly, I don't have a big problem with this, but I can see why some do.

Now, I don't think this is the same thing as the author's topic, which I totally understand as seeming really incredibly wrong. I get my dander up about stuff like this. And back on topic -- Do people think agencies honestly want to undervalue children of color, or rather that they really really want parents to consider adopting non-White children and misguidedly attempt to reach them with the old adage "money talks."

It's a poor move because any White family who adopts a child of color solely because the process fees were less probably should not be the kind of family undertaking building a transracial family. And one thing that the author didn't consider is the question: is the agency lessening fees for children of color with the hope/assumption that more families of color would adopt these Black and mixed children if the fees are less which operates under the assumption that Black prospective adoptive families will be making less money and the normal fees prohibitive?

There is definitely some messed up stuff here, and I think all of us are following the instinct here that this "different fees" thing is bad news. But I can't help but be curious as to how the program directors at agencies justify and condone the different fee schedules for babies of non-white races. Has it meant for them that more families adopt children of color? Is that in the end, a terrible thing? I honestly don't know.

I hope this isn't coming across as devil's advocate, because I am a total crazy uptight Mama Bear about racial issues. I won't even put my Black child in clothes with monkeys on them because it's insensitive, so believe me, I am on board with this stuff being not OK.

I still wonder how the domestic adoption folks up in arms about this topic would view the international side of things with older special needs kids.

Children are now being traded like commodities. Prospective adopters need to do more research about the agencies they use and should ask questions to be sure they are dealing with ethical agencies. They absolutely must not allow themselves to be fobbed off with the jargon such agencies use, as a devious way to duck difficult questions.

At the forefront of all our minds must be the importance of respecting the human dignity of every child in care regardless of the circumstances to their being in care or needing an adoptive placement outside their family. It could have been me or you... Nature just dealt them a different hand. Yet the future is as uncertain for us as it is for them. How many great achievers have we not had in the world who were adopted- Steve Job, Moses, Jesus (His father Joseph adopted him) and the list goes.

Please let us stand together to remove this stench of racism from adoption.

@ My husband has just likened it to slavery. You have to BUY the child, not the services. Disgusting

This is such a hot button one for me. I actually had a not-so-nice run in with an adoption *professional* from Adoptions of the Heart. My daughter's parents refused to use their agency because they charge different prices, and through a series of posts and comments and emails, I got to know that that particular agency cares more about their reputation than being ethical. It was a fun exchange! (http://thechroniclesofmunchkinland.com/2011/11/28/...)

As a birth mother, I find it horrifying that my daughter is "worth less" because she is biracial. HORRIFYING. If I would have known that the unethical facilitator through which I placed charged different prices, I would have gone elsewhere. Alas, they didn't tell me a lot of things.

I do want you to know, original poster, that it IS possible to find an ethical agency who doesn't charge different prices for different races. (Ethical meaning in all regards, not just this one.) It took my daughter's parents awhile to find a new agency -- as our previous, unethical facilitator has stopped dealing with women and children who aren't white ... because they get a less money.

I read your post in its entirety on your blog, and I could not agree more. I am the adoptive mom of 2 children who are a different race than I am. (I actually hate that term, to be honest.) How in the world is that going to help those children to literally devalue them? It's offensive and actually insulting to potential adoptive parents, because those agencies have already made those children seem desperate and "hard to adopt out."

Kudos to you for sticking to your principles! I worry that some people who adopt those "cheaper" babies will feel that they "saved" or "rescued" those children, which also makes me nuts.

Can you tell you hit a nerve and got me on one of my favorite soapboxes? ;) I hope that your wait goes quickly.

Wow. I had no idea! I don't think there should be varying prices, no matter what the baby's gender, race, or ethnicity is. All babies are created equal and there are too many out there waiting for someone to love them to be claimed more "valuable" than others. I agree!