Biracial Children For Adoption

Where an adoptive couple is looking for placement or whether they're looking for an infant or older child can affect the ease of adopting a biracial child.

For some agencies, biracial children in the foster care system are thought to have "special needs" because it's difficult to place them. The difficulty generally comes from case worker opinions that a biracial child should be placed with either a biracial or black couple. It's rare for a Caucasian couple to be placed with a biracial child. This is most likely based on the thought that it would be easier for a biracial child to grow up identifying with a black family than a white one. This kind of discrimination is illegal. However, it may still happen subtly. If a biracial child is adopted by a white family, it may be sometimes referred to as a transracial adoption.

Transracial adoptions are accepted, usually in the case of international adoption. However, adoptive parents are warned that adoption and racial identity issues are more common to arise in transracial families. Adoptive parents are encouraged to support the child's exploration of his or her ethnic background, even if it's outside of the family's traditions or practices.

Many agencies claim that biracial families are oft-requested by birth mothers as a quality for adoptive parents to have, ranking up there with Christianity and Catholicism.