Re: recruitment of minority foster/adoptive parents

["vernon carter" <vbrooks@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

It is fascinating to me, how we all bring our own understanding /perspective
to a reading. Shirley Wilder is the name of the child who could not receive
appropriate services from CPS in NYC. What I got from an article by Rosner &
Markovitz, (1997) is that the NYC CPS system is and has been since its
inception rife with racism. Any efforts that could ameliorate the trauma
that children of color experience when they are removed from their homes
would be a move in the right direction. This idea that race doesn't matter,
frankly offends me.

I know that R.P. Barth feels that efforts to find minority foster homes is
not that answer for children of color who are lingering in foster care. But
Jonson-Reid and Barth (2000) also feel that African American children are
best left in foster care rather than return them to abusive and neglect
situations. Unfortunately, it has to be pointed out that 68% of all children
in care are there because of neglect and not abuse (Takayama & Wolfe, 1998).

We are a society that is racially polarized. Some communities are as
segregated today, as they were 80 years ago. In the cities of New York and
Chicago, African American and Caucasians live in communities that are no
more integrated today than they were in the 1920s - when African Americans
began immigrating from the South in large numbers (Christian Science
Monitor, March 14, 2001).

Here are two articles you might find to be helpful.

Fagan. P. (1995). Why serious welfare reform must include serious adoption
reform. The Heritage Foundation Backgrounder No. 1045. [Online]. Available:
http://www.frc.org/heritage/library/categories/healthwel/bg1045.html

Briggs, H. (October 1994) Promoting adoptions by foster parents through an
inner-city organization. Research On Social Work Practice, 4, (4), 497-509.

Vernon Brooks Carter, MSW (former CPSW worker)

----- Original Message -----
From: <dw432@columbia.edu>
To: Child Maltreatment Researchers
<CHILD-MALTREATMENT-RESEARCH-L@cornell.edu>
Sent: Monday, June 03, 2002 3:36 PM
Subject: Re: recruitment of minority foster/adoptive parents


> Arnie--
>      Interestingly, this policy (of placing like kids with like
> parents) is nothing new. I just finished a book "The Lost Children of
> Wilder: the epic struggle to change foster care" written by NYT
> writer Nina Bernstein that gives a moving synopsis of failed policies
> in the US foster care system (especially here in NYC). Why not focus
> more on quality control of caring, nurturing parents (which has been
> shown to all important to child development) instead of emphasizing
> racial/cultural/religious orientation?
> --Doug Waite, MD
>
> Quoting "PRITCHARD, ARNIE" <ARNIE.PRITCHARD@po.state.ct.us>:
>
> >
> >
> >
> > The Connecticut Department of Children and Families is
> > planning an
> > evaluation of its efforts to comply with the "pool provision"
> > of the
> > Multi-ethnic Placement Act of 1994 (MEPA).  The pool provision
> > requires any
> > child placement agency receiving federal funds to make
> > diligent efforts to
> > recruit a pool of foster and adoptive parents who are
> > ethnically similar to
> > the children whom the agency is trying to place. In practice,
> > this means
> > efforts to recruit and retain foster and adoptive parents from
> > ethnic
> > minorities, especially African-Americans and Hispanic/Latinos.
> >
> > We would like to know of any studies either of 1)efforts to
> > recruit minority
> > foster/adoptive parents in general 2)specifically, studies of
> > efforts to
> > comply with the pool provisions of MEPA.
> >
> > Thank you for your attention.
> >
> > Arnie Pritchard
> > Quality Assurance
> Division
> > Connecticut DCF
> >
>
>
>
> Doug Waite, MD
> New York City
>