The Role of Private Adoption Agencies in Facilitating African American Adoptions

Abstract

The authors compare a sample of African American families who adopted from two private African American agencies in California with a sample of African American families who adopted from public California child welfare agencies. Findings show clear distinctions between the private and public adopters. The authors also present results from a questionnaire that asks about the adoption process and the families' adoptive history. Strikingly, 70% of the private agency adopters had attempted to first adopt through (primarily) public agencies, and the majority of those had been unsuccessful. Nearly 90% of the families who responded to a question of how important a private African American adoption agency was in their decision to adopt indicated that it was very important or important.