Adoption study sees racial problems

WASHINGTON, May 27 (UPI) -- Color-blind adoption has created problems for both black children and their white parents, a study released Tuesday indicated.

The federal Multiethnic Placement Act, or MEPA, of 1994 did help increase the number of black adoptions but not do enough to offset other problems, said the report by the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute in New York. The study found that because the law forbids discussion of race during adoption it also fails to prepare white parents for the challenge of raising dark-complexioned children in a largely white environment.

Issues related to self-identity, esteem and discrimination are particularly hard for adopted black children, the report said, calling for well-meaning "colorblind" federal legislation to be amended, permitting race to be a factor-though not the sole factor-in matching families and preparing parents, The Washington Post reported.

But not all observers agreed with the study's conclusion. The president of the National Council for Adoption said the assertion that MEPA requires a colorblind approach to adoption is incorrect. "Some state agencies have misinterpreted and executed the policy this way, but ... guidelines are quite clear in allowing certain considerations of race," the group's president, Thomas C. Atwood, told Post.