Adoption agencies were founded to find healthy White infants for infertile White couples.
~J. Toni Oliver, president and CEO of Roots Adoption Agency in Atlanta, GA, as quoted by Ebony Magazine (available for viewing by subscription only), June 2010
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Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
Right, that is why my white neighbors adopted a black baby boy when they lived in South Carolina.
she sounds like a racist.
Interesting. It is very unusual these days to see an adopted white child. If I am to adopt a child, I don’t care what race they are.
Is it my imagination or are a lot more African American people in a position of power playing the “race card” more than usual?
I read recently that Sandra Bullock sat on a waiting list for 4 years waiting for her baby. Waiting lists are so common and babies so few that I cannot adopt. Age, income, etc. are things that can get you ruled out or keep you at the bottom of the list nearly forever. I’ve often read or heard that we shouldn’t protest abortion unless we adopt. That’s ridiculous. Young women should feel that their pregnancy is OK. We ought to be a more welcoming society. Too many young women are told that their children will ruin their lives, etc. Too many grandparents threaten their pregnant teens to abort their own grandchildren. That has to change.
Let’s not be so hard on Oliver. Depending on how far back in time you go, she’s right. Interracial adoption is not controversial today, thankfully, but it wasn’t always that way. When you think about the eugenic roots of the abortion movement, a history of white-only adoption agencies makes sense; kill the black babies and save the white ones.
I think there is some truth to this statement, and I don’t believe that Ms. Oliver has a racist intent.
Historically, African American families were more likely to take in an unmarried daughter or neice’s baby and raise it within the family than white families. Young white women faced with unplanned pregnancies were more likely to be sent to a maternity home and have their babies whisked away by adoption agencies to adoptive parents.
I’m not trying to say either situation is better than the other. I did some research on maternity homes with my mom while she was helping a friend try to reconnect with a child she put up for adoption that she gave birth to in a maternity home. She had a good experience there and remembers having good times with other young women in the same situation as her, and not feeling shamed or isolated like she might have if she had stayed with her family while pregnant.
Also, note that Ms. Oliver is discussing why adoption agencies were FOUNDED, not the capacity to which they operate currently. Many adoption agencies were founded 100 years ago or more. Society has changed in many ways since then, both good and bad.
Len–you are right. I just went to adoption class (for our third child, fourth over all) and we watched some historic footage from an adoption agency in the 1950s. They stressed healthy babies, and of course there were no transracial adoptions in those days. I do not know if there were separate agencies to handle adoptions for other ethnic groups. So J. Toni Oliver is also right. I do not know how she feels about adoption now-a-days and transracial adoption in general…the quote does not give us enough information.
Ninek, you are not quite right. There are no such things as “waiting lists” in domestic adoption, and until we stop using this language the myth of “waiting lists” will persist and probably deter prospective birthmoms from making an adoption plan. That’s not to say the wait can’t be long, but in the end the decision in almost all domestic adoptions is left to the birthmothers not some “list”. This means you wait until a birthmom chooses your family as she makes a plan for her baby. You may also wait for your adoption agency to open a new class for prospective adoptive parents. If they have many families already waiting to be chosen, then they will want to place those families before they train new families.
It is so very important that we as pro-life advocates use positive and supportive language when referring to placing for adoption, making an adoption plan, birthmothers, and waiting families. There are so many adoption fallacies in circulation out there. Please be very careful before you spread them unknowingly.
I just went to the website rootsadopt.org and was actually pretty impressed. They were founded and exist to help African American children in the foster care system find homes. The site (correctly) points out that African American children are over-represented in the DCFS system. The organization specifically states that the adoptive parents can be of any race, but they only work to find homes for African American children. I don’t find that kind of advocacy to be racist. There is definitely for the specialized training needed to parent wards of the state, and they are providing that training.
sad comment…
Maybe that is why my black friend was adopted by a white couple back in the 70s
’tis true! Adoption agencies WERE founded to find healthy, white babies for infertile white couples. Until the past two or three decades, most whites would not adopt black babies and, as Len, above, pointed out, black families would take in the unmarried girl and help her raise her child.
Things have changed. A lot. Now, black women have been brainwashed into believing that they are having a clump of cells removed. They have no idea how early on their babies’ hearts beat or when they get fingerprints. Why not? Because Planned Parenthood was founded by an outspoken racist, Margaret Sanger (she was about as evil as a person can get) and Sanger set out to decimate blacks. It was the reason she started Planned Parenthood!
Now, whites will adopt babies of any color, yet they wait in line for YEARS. Why? Abortion. One lie perpetrated by abortion clinics is that there are too many babies up for adoption. It’s the opposite; so many women kill their babies that couples and families wishing to adopt wait for years and spend many thousands of dollars for a baby.
Ms Oliver is doing a great service to blacks specifically but even generally, to those wishing to adopt a baby.
Remember, ladies: If it has human DNA–and fertilized eggs do–it’s human. Most doctors and scientists agree that life begins at conception. Don’t fall for the lies of the racist money-making machine called Planned Parenthood.
“Adoption agencies were founded to find healthy White infants for infertile White couples.”
Without access to the article in Ebony, it’s hard to guess the context of this statement… Len, I agree with you, on the surface it doesn’t appear racist.
Now, if Ms. Oliver took a vocal stand against aborting black children (see Jill’s new post on Georgia’s billboard campaign), that would really be awesome. Praying that many blacks take a public stand against abortion in the black communities especially. Juan Williams, a Fox News political contributor and NPR senior national correspondent might be an effective spokesperson, although I don’t know if he’s pro-life. He’s an Obama supporter.
OK, so apparently all of my comments didn’t quite make it through, so I will repost. Len is absolutely right, and so is J. Toni Oliver. I was just at classes for my third adoption and we watched an adoption promotion video from the 1950s. They absolutely stressed health (also “baby intelligence”), and of course, there was no transracial adoption then. The comment does not give us enough information to make snap judgements like “she’s racist.” She’s right.
I went to the Roots organization website. They work to place African American children from the foster system with parents…according to their website, parents of any race. They state, rightly, that there is an over-representation of Black kids in foster care, and they want to help. This does not seem racist. Also, the organization does not work to place infants who were voluntarily relinquished, so comments about Sandra Bullock or even families like mine (two African American kids and counting) are not applicable. State adoptions and private infant adoptions are totally different.
Also, Ninek and others. There are no “waiting lists” in infant adoption. I don’t know why Sandra Bullock waited four years, but I do know how almost all infant adoptions work. Families wait to be chosen by a birthmom, who gets to pick the family who she will feel most comfortable placing her child with. Families are not on a “list” because modern adoption agencies are focused not on meeting the needs of the adoptive family, but on helping birthparents and families meet the needs of the children in question. There are no “lists”.
Also, just as an FYI, please everyone don’t use phrases like “giving up” or “putting up” for adoption. As pro-life advocates it is imperative that we are educated on adoption, particularly open adoption, and are able to talk about the adoption option with current, positive, and accurate terms. Who would want to “put up” a baby? But lovingly making an “adoption plan” for a baby…that’s respectful, responsible, and accurate.
Speaking of Fox News, an aside to my prior comment –
From what I gather from hearing his news show, Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly is against late term abortions but seems to have no problem with first-trimester abortions. Where’s the consistency in that position, Mr. O’Reilly?
“Now, whites will adopt babies of any color, yet they wait in line for YEARS. Why? Abortion.”
And aren’t there some places or agencies that don’t want to place black kids with white families. I think that’s really warped. I grew up with a ton of kids who were adopted from Korea by white families, and they turned out fine. Even one who dropped out of high school for psychological reasons and got her GED instead just got her doctorate.
I was reading a non-fiction book lately about an adopted child; one of the women who worked at the adoption agency had to find a new job after Roe v. Wade, because there weren’t enough babies available for adoption anymore and the agency had to close.
I’m confused at the message Jill is trying to convey with this quote. It just seems to be a random fact. I guess more context is needed?
An African American baby was legally adopted for the first time by white parents in 1948, and it wasn’t until 1953 that any coordinated effort was made to find adoptive homes for African American children.
In fact, this quote from an article in the Chicago Reader sounds a lot more racist to me:
” At Bethany Christian Services, secretary Annette Boersma says, “We’re open mainly to couples from evangelical churches. They have to be born-again Christians.” After a couple gains approval, says Boersma, the usual waiting period for a white infant is 12 to 18 months. Those willing to take a nonwhite infant, she says, are not held to the same strict requirements. ”
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What she said is true. Babies were matched to white parents rather than parents to babies. Women were coerced to place. Adoption has a filthy history and still has current problems. Take it from this social worker who has worked in both domestic and international adoptions.
EH, thanks for the clarification, I do appreciate that. Adoption does need to be a better option for families. I have a dear friend who was so well loved by his adoptive mother, I wish he’d give a testimonial!! I can think of 3 other friends and relatives off the top of my head that were adopted as infants plus 4 more adopted out of foster care. All of them have positive stories.