Comments on: Report on adoption and race from the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute http://deeshaphilyaw.com/2008/05/28/report-on-adoption-and-race-from-the-evan-b-donaldson-adoption-institute/ Making multi-tasking look good since 1998. Thu, 20 Nov 2008 14:05:00 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.1 By: deesha http://deeshaphilyaw.com/2008/05/28/report-on-adoption-and-race-from-the-evan-b-donaldson-adoption-institute/#comment-894 deesha Wed, 11 Jun 2008 17:17:48 +0000 http://deeshaphilyaw.com/2008/05/28/report-on-adoption-and-race-from-the-evan-b-donaldson-adoption-institute/#comment-894 Hi, Victoria...thanks for stopping by and for stirring this discussions. As you note, and as you are living proof of, there are no easy answers. I would say, ideally, that lawmakers can do two things: redirect funds from "damage control"--juvenile criminal programs and, later, prison--to programs that fight the poverty that lead kids into foster care (and all to often, the criminal justice system) in the first place. Again, that's the ideal. Likely? Probably not. But if there was a groundswell of pressure on lawmakers...then maybe. I think the report serves the purpose of raising awareness and hopefully spurring that kind of groundswell. Lawmakers can also enforce the MEPA provisions that call for aggressive recruitment of more black families. Currently, state agencies are fined if they make race-based placements, but they are not fined if they fail to recruit as the law stipulates. This is glaring. Hi, Victoria…thanks for stopping by and for stirring this discussions. As you note, and as you are living proof of, there are no easy answers. I would say, ideally, that lawmakers can do two things: redirect funds from “damage control”–juvenile criminal programs and, later, prison–to programs that fight the poverty that lead kids into foster care (and all to often, the criminal justice system) in the first place. Again, that’s the ideal. Likely? Probably not. But if there was a groundswell of pressure on lawmakers…then maybe. I think the report serves the purpose of raising awareness and hopefully spurring that kind of groundswell.

Lawmakers can also enforce the MEPA provisions that call for aggressive recruitment of more black families. Currently, state agencies are fined if they make race-based placements, but they are not fined if they fail to recruit as the law stipulates. This is glaring.

]]> By: Victoria http://deeshaphilyaw.com/2008/05/28/report-on-adoption-and-race-from-the-evan-b-donaldson-adoption-institute/#comment-891 Victoria Wed, 11 Jun 2008 04:43:21 +0000 http://deeshaphilyaw.com/2008/05/28/report-on-adoption-and-race-from-the-evan-b-donaldson-adoption-institute/#comment-891 First, I am really enjoying reading your blog. This report is important and, I would agree with the previous poster, long overdue... but as someone who spent a brief year as a foster parent, the foster care system is so broken and overwhelmed that while this confirms what I thought before, I don't know that the system is in any shape to incorporate this information. I feel like I could write a book about this whole subject-- and it makes me so sad to think about the kids (particularly kids over 12, because they're the absolute hardest to place) our system is damaging every day. We don't have enough parents (whatever their racial/ethnic background) who are willing to take in children who come with a host of issues. It's easy to fault social workers, but J's social worker had 35 kids on her caseload, and she still never went more than 24 hours without calling me back, and ended up coming to the hospital on a Friday night for 3 hours during one crisis. From stories I've heard, she might be an exception--but 35 kids? How is she supposed to recruit the best possible match for a child with 35 kids on her caseload? I think that this post just makes me frustrated all over again. So now that we have this report, what do we do with it? How do we change this system that has failed so many children? One of the lines in the article said something about "assessing parents' readiness to deal with transracial issues" (well, it was more eloquent than that, but same point). Well, what do you do when you don't have enough parents who are even willing to take in children, much less worry about the readiness factor? As I said to one of my friends in the middle of that year, it would have been better for J if she'd ended up with someone like his mom-- a strong Black woman, raised two amazing sons, a teacher turned principal (used to dealing with kids who had issues)... but she lived on the other side of the country AND she wasn't interested in being a parent again. So she ended up with me because I could see that she was slipping and there wasn't anywhere else where she was wanted-- literally. (She's now with her aunt and uncle, which is good-- for a lot of the reasons discussed earlier--but they refused to take her for the year she was with me, too.) Where was she supposed to go? Ok. Enough of my rambling. I just don't even know what the lawmakers CAN do about it. You can't force people to become foster/adoptive parents, and I don't know where you are located (I think it's back East) but I do know that in the Bay Area, we don't have enough parents willing to step forward (again, particularly for teenagers) and love kids through all the stuff that comes up when you end up in the system. Carry on-- (Oh yeah. My other blog is about trail running and not about anything remotely this thought-provoking...) First, I am really enjoying reading your blog. This report is important and, I would agree with the previous poster, long overdue… but as someone who spent a brief year as a foster parent, the foster care system is so broken and overwhelmed that while this confirms what I thought before, I don’t know that the system is in any shape to incorporate this information. I feel like I could write a book about this whole subject– and it makes me so sad to think about the kids (particularly kids over 12, because they’re the absolute hardest to place) our system is damaging every day. We don’t have enough parents (whatever their racial/ethnic background) who are willing to take in children who come with a host of issues. It’s easy to fault social workers, but J’s social worker had 35 kids on her caseload, and she still never went more than 24 hours without calling me back, and ended up coming to the hospital on a Friday night for 3 hours during one crisis. From stories I’ve heard, she might be an exception–but 35 kids? How is she supposed to recruit the best possible match for a child with 35 kids on her caseload?

I think that this post just makes me frustrated all over again. So now that we have this report, what do we do with it? How do we change this system that has failed so many children? One of the lines in the article said something about “assessing parents’ readiness to deal with transracial issues” (well, it was more eloquent than that, but same point). Well, what do you do when you don’t have enough parents who are even willing to take in children, much less worry about the readiness factor? As I said to one of my friends in the middle of that year, it would have been better for J if she’d ended up with someone like his mom– a strong Black woman, raised two amazing sons, a teacher turned principal (used to dealing with kids who had issues)… but she lived on the other side of the country AND she wasn’t interested in being a parent again. So she ended up with me because I could see that she was slipping and there wasn’t anywhere else where she was wanted– literally. (She’s now with her aunt and uncle, which is good– for a lot of the reasons discussed earlier–but they refused to take her for the year she was with me, too.) Where was she supposed to go?

Ok. Enough of my rambling. I just don’t even know what the lawmakers CAN do about it. You can’t force people to become foster/adoptive parents, and I don’t know where you are located (I think it’s back East) but I do know that in the Bay Area, we don’t have enough parents willing to step forward (again, particularly for teenagers) and love kids through all the stuff that comes up when you end up in the system. Carry on–

(Oh yeah. My other blog is about trail running and not about anything remotely this thought-provoking…)

]]> By: deesha http://deeshaphilyaw.com/2008/05/28/report-on-adoption-and-race-from-the-evan-b-donaldson-adoption-institute/#comment-863 deesha Thu, 29 May 2008 22:09:21 +0000 http://deeshaphilyaw.com/2008/05/28/report-on-adoption-and-race-from-the-evan-b-donaldson-adoption-institute/#comment-863 Brigitte: It is long overdue indeed. Now let's see what the lawmakers do with it. Sigh. Brigitte:

It is long overdue indeed. Now let’s see what the lawmakers do with it. Sigh.

]]> By: Brigitte http://deeshaphilyaw.com/2008/05/28/report-on-adoption-and-race-from-the-evan-b-donaldson-adoption-institute/#comment-862 Brigitte Thu, 29 May 2008 21:38:41 +0000 http://deeshaphilyaw.com/2008/05/28/report-on-adoption-and-race-from-the-evan-b-donaldson-adoption-institute/#comment-862 Thank you for posting this. This report is long overdue. Thank you for posting this. This report is long overdue.

]]>