There are few academics I disagree more with than Elizabeth Bartholet. Here she is in this NPR story. Bartholet is an adoptive parent who adopted transracially. Love that this story features the saying "linger in foster care" phrase, which I think is Rule #1 in talking about transracial adoptions and MEPA. Let’s be clear, though, that this story is talking about private domestic adoptions, not foster care.
After reading Adoption in a Color-Blind Society, which focuses on private, domestic adoptions, it is somewhat easy to divert our attention in talking about the woman’s preference to place her child with a culturally and racially similar adoptive family by bringing up how MEPA "threw away" barriers to transracial adoption and talking about foster care. Maybe they need to revisit this article so they can report on this story with a fresh perspective.
There are plenty of African American families interested in infants. What is the agency doing to recruit and retain African American families?
Expectant Moms Face Cultural Hurdles with Adoption
Tell Me More, September 24, 2007 ·
Expectant mothers of color who desire to place their children in
adoptive care sometimes face diffculty finding other families of color
to adopt, based on cultural preferences. Betsy Bartholett, faculty
director of the Child Advocacy Program at Harvard Law School, is joined
by Melanie Markley, a Houston Chronicle reporter who recently profiled one woman’s experience.
Harlow's Monkey 