Skin tone, adoption and black children: Is colorism an issue?

African-American children make up 30 percent of the 500,000 children currently in the American foster care system, despite being only 14 percent of the U.S. population. On top of being over-represented, these youths are less frequently selected for adoption compared to other kids.

Could the skin tone of black children play a role in whether they are chosen — especially if the family considering them is black? Mardie Caldwell, founder and CEO of the Lifetime Adoption agency, says this is true — and that this bias is exclusive to African-Americans.

“We’ve found that many African-American families have definite preferences for the type of children they want, whether it’s newborns [or older children], and also in terms of their physical appearance,” Caldwell told theGrio. Continue reading at: http://thegrio.com/2012/03/08/gloria-king-of-executive/

Subscribe to the 4KidsLikeMe.com Insider Newsletter for weekly resources, information, and subscriber-ONLY coupons and deals on the front page of http://4kidslikeme.com/ to stay informed.