Interracial Adoptions

            The Affect Interracial Adoptions Have .
            
             More children are being adopted than being placed in foster homes. Sometimes it is difficult at best to place a child in a home of his own ethnic background. When this happens the adoption agency is forced to place the child in the best home possible, regardless of race or religion. Over time interracial adoptions have become a big issue. Many people believe that children should grow up in their own ethnic environments. But it was said that since there is a shortage of African American homes and African American children comprise approximately one third of the children that are available for adoption, that adoption agencies have no choice but to place the children in the best available home (Samuels 118). .
             As he grows older, he may face confusion on whether or not he should follow the racial beliefs of his adoptive parents, or his own racial beliefs. A shortage of African American homes for these children has led to the inability to place as many black children as might be if racial background were not a major consideration (Samuels 119).
             It may be very difficult for the adopted child to follow his beliefs because he may not have been taught all of his ethnic cultures needed to survive as a member of the African American race. "In 1972, the national Association of Black Social Workers severely criticized the practice of placing black children in white homes, because the group felt transracial adoption was intrinsically detrimental to the welfare of the black child. Since then, there has been a hesitancy in agencies to approve transracial adoptions, and this attitude appears to have slowed down the adoption of black children" (Samuels 118). .
             Living in a transracial, family may cause a child to develop identity problems. He may act and think he is black around white children. When he is around black kids he may not know how to act around them because how he was raised and what he was taught may be totally different from the way the other black kids grew up.