In recent years, the plight of African American children in foster
care has gained considerable public attention. The child welfare
system has a funnel effect on these children: it is easy to get them
in the system and to remain in, but very difficult to get them out.
This research focuses on the plight of children, who remain in the system
and never receive the permanence every child deserves. Practitioners
and policy makers are faced with increasing demands for more effective
solutions to decrease the number of African American children stuck in
the system and to enhance the adoption of these children. Listed
are some proposed solutions:
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Support services for family preservation should be established in one’s
community.
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Supportive services, such as educational, mental health, homemaking, parenting
programs, and drug treatment programs should be provided.
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Support and expand existing programs
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Focus on preventative services designed for long-term improvements.
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Increase financial incentives to families who adopt.
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Efforts should be made to obtain permanent adoptive families in the least
amount of time possible.
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Child welfare systems must become more responsive and culturally relevant
to the African American community.
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To attract and retain African American adoptive families, agencies must
move beyond their usual audiences and target less traditional
adoptive families.
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Effective recruitment strategies also include using current foster and
adoptive parents to recruit new ones, using the media, and focused church
recruiting (such as One Church/ One Child Program).
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Encourage more research on successful adoption and barriers to adoption.
Even though these solutions are provided not just one is the answer to
improve the permanence of African American children.
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