Thousands of black children languish unseen and unheard in America awaiting foster homes and adoptive parents. A new resource aims to help improve circumstances for them. BlackAdoptionMatters.com, a new website, aims to raise their profile and attract the attention—and families—these kids deserve. As the website points out: Some 135,000 children are adopted each year in the United States, but, disproportionately, just 11,663 are black. Adoption advocates Deborah O. Farmer and Tamara Brown co-founded the online resource to improve those numbers. The pair draws from their individual personal experiences and perspectives related to adoption and black children.
Farmer is a media maven who worked for decades in Chicago’s TV news industry before launching her own media consulting firm, Brown Farmer Media Group. She is the author of “My Journey To Joshua,” a book that details her experiences adopting her now 6-year old son when he was an infant. “Josh is a dream come true for me,” Farmer said. “He is amazing and I’m trying to match those qualities and to provide him the very best life that I possibly can. He deserved someone who feels that way about him, and so does every single black child lacking this love through absolutely no fault of their own. Finding parents and families is challenging for any child, but for black children it’s heartbreaking how much tougher it is, for a myriad of rea- sons. Tamara and I wish very much to change the odds in their favor.”
Brown is chief of staff at Think Common Entertainment and president of Imagine Justice, both by hip-hop artist and actor Common. She is in the process of adopting a child by way of a private adoption agency. “Taking the steps toward motherhood by way of adoption seems mysterious to a lot of folks, but it’s like anything,” Brown said. “It’s often neither as easy nor as difficult as you might imagine. From our experiences, we seek to unveil the real deal. We hope to bring clarity and transparency to the process for African-American adults who could be potentially great at this.”
When they realized that they could be a powerful asset to children in need of homes and families if they drew on their combined experiences, the pair grew excited about the prospects. “We both have been doing what we can separately to bang the drum on fostering and adoption and to improve prospects for our kids,” Brown said. “Because they are all indeed our kids,” Farmer said. “We cannot personally foster or adopt them all, but we can work to reach and teach those who can.”
BlackAdoptionMatters.com is a repository of information and various other resources that could facilitate efforts by potential parents considering adopting black children. “Our aim is to be as specific as possible with our resources in terms of helping African-American adults who want to welcome African-American children into their homes and families,” Brown said. “The site also combines some foundational and fundamental information about adoption and fostering in general, but as you delve deeper you’ll see resources, including books, articles and videos, specifically aimed at the black experience as it relates to adoption,” Farmer said.
About Post Author
