Event history analysis on racial disparities in the path to adoption for Black and White children.

BACKGROUND

Black children are significantly overrepresented in many phases of the U.S. child welfare system.

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study is to investigate racial disproportionality and disparities in the adoption process and factors that predict the length of time to adoption.

PARTICIPANTS AND

SETTING

This study utilized administrative data from the 2014 year of the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) collected in 50 States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.

METHODS

The disproportionality metric (DM) and disparity index (DI) were constructed for Black and White children, and event history analyses were conducted to calculate the probability of adoption while considering the time to adoption finalization.

RESULTS

DM indicated that Black children (0.81) were underrepresented in adoption, and DI indicated that the likelihood of adoption for Black children (0.73) was one third lower than that for White children. The event history analyses revealed that White children were 1.27 times more likely to be adopted than Black children. White children had considerably fewer days from termination of parental rights to adoption finalization with a median time of 273.5 days compared to 328 days for Black children. Factors that extended adoption time included child intellectual, physical, and emotional/behavioral disabilities, visual and hearing impairments, parental alcohol abuse and disability, and child maltreatment histories, while parental drug abuse and longer stays in out-of-home care shortened the adoption process. We also found a significant interaction effect of race and neglect on adoption. Neglected Black children had a longer time to adoption than neglected White children.

CONCLUSIONS

More dedicated outreach programs and resources must be developed to ensure the effectiveness of adoption services and cultural continuity for Black children.