Adriel Blog > February 4, 2024
Black History Month: Celebrating and Building on the Great Contributions of African American Foster Parents
We are blessed and grateful to have worked with many African American foster parents, who have made invaluable contributions to the foster care community through their resilience, compassion, and cultural impact in shaping the lives of countless children.
During Black History Month, we honor those who have already given so much. At the same time, we must address why we need so many more in the community to “be the one” to help a child by becoming a foster parent.
In Ohio and across the U.S., there is a well-documented and urgent need for a more diverse roster of foster parents to provide loving, stable homes for children in need.
Why Is the Need for More African American Foster Families So Urgent?
There are many reasons we seek increased representation of African American adults within the foster care community, but the most important of them all is the simple fact that African American children are over-represented in the foster care system.
According to the Annie E. Casey Foundation, “In the United States, African American children are disproportionately represented in the foster care system. In 2021, they accounted for 22% of the foster care population, despite representing only 14% of the total child population.”
The disparities are similar in Ohio, and furthermore, only 16.2% of surveyed Ohio caregivers in Ohio identified as African American, according to 2021 data from the KIDS COUNT Data Center, covered in a 2022 report written by Karl Vanderwood, PhD for The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, in partnership with the Ohio Children’s Alliance.
Math tells the unfortunate story. The numbers of African American foster parents don’t match the numbers of African American foster children. A tighter match could contribute to improved experiences for some of the kids in foster care.
How Do African American Foster Parents Make a Special Impact?
African American foster parents and families are essential to the U.S. child welfare system, offering culturally responsive care and advocating for systemic improvements.
Here are some of their most notable areas of impact on the children they help and the community as a whole.
Culturally Responsive Care
Having families who reflect the ethnic and racial diversity of children in foster care is essential for stable and loving placements, according to the Child Welfare Information Gateway. Dedicated African American foster families provide environments that honor and maintain the cultural identities of African American children, which is vital for their development and well-being. Here are just a few of the areas of greatest impact:
Role Modeling and Identity Formation
Seeing caregivers who reflect their own identity can serve as a positive model for foster children, helping them envision their potential and develop a strong, positive self-image. A young African American girl in foster care may benefit from an African American foster mother who can guide her on embracing her natural hair, cultural traditions, or career aspirations.
Cultural Understanding and Representation
Foster families who share a child’s cultural background may be better equipped to understand and support the child’s unique experiences, traditions, and identity, helping them feel a sense of belonging. For example, African American foster parents may be more familiar with the importance of familiar hairstyles, church traditions, or culturally significant foods that reflect the child’s cultural experience.
Preservation of Community Connections
Culturally aligned foster families are often part of the same communities as the children they foster, allowing children to maintain relationships with their peers, extended family, and community institutions. For example, a child placed in an African American foster family may have a better chance to remain connected to their local Black church, school programs, or community events, providing stability and familiarity.
Advocacy and Leadership
We’ve seen many African American foster parents actively engage in efforts to reform child welfare policies, striving to address disparities and promote equity within the system. The Children's Bureau emphasizes the importance of addressing disproportionality and disparity in child welfare to support impacted communities effectively. Here are a few reasons it’s so important:
Gaining and Providing Unique Insight through Lived Experience
African American foster parents often have firsthand experience navigating systemic biases and inequities in the child welfare system. This lived experience enables them to identify and advocate for specific areas for reform that may not be immediately apparent to policymakers or practitioners.
Driving Policy Change Through Representation
Serving on advisory boards or task forces, African American foster parents can directly influence policies on disproportionality, ensuring that new practices address the unique challenges faced by African American children and families. Participating in policymaking discussions brings much-needed representation and authenticity to child welfare reforms.
Supporting Kinship Care Solutions
Kinship care placements, where children are placed with extended family or close family friends, are often a culturally preferred solution in African American communities. African American foster parents might lobby for more funding and support services for kinship caregivers, recognizing the importance of maintaining family connections for children in care.
Expanding & Aligning Our Foster Parent Community to Help Children
It’s important to understand that Adriel does not (and may not) discriminate on the basis of race or any other demographic factor in our placements. Every placement is its own success story and aspiration for a better future for the children involved, and we cherish all our foster families.
We always need more foster families to meet the great need in our state and bringing more African American adults into the foster care community to help meet the extensive needs of African American children –and all children– in the system presents an opportunity to build on past contributions and further improve outcomes for kids in our community.
Explore Foster Care Possibilities
