African-American Babies and Boys Least Likely to Be Adopted, Study Shows

[The Straight Story]

African-American Babies and Boys Least Likely to Be Adopted, Study Shows

ScienceDaily (Apr. 20, 2010) — Parents pursuing adoption within the United States have strong preferences regarding the types of babies they will apply for, tending to choose non-African-American girls, and favoring babies who are close to being born as opposed to those who have already been born or who are early in gestation. These preferences are significant, according to the findings of a team of economists from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), the London School of Economics, and New York University (NYU), and can be quantified in terms of the amount of money the potential adoptive parents are willing to pay in finalizing their adoption.

While the data are intriguing, the real value of the study, the researchers say, is that it can give policymakers a more rational, evidence-driven base from which to consider the implications of policies and laws, such as those that restrict adoption by single-sex and foreign couples.

The key to these findings, the research team says, was the data set they were able to put together. "These data are unique," says Leeat Yariv, associate professor of economics at Caltech.

What makes them so unusual? Detailed data on adoption generally are difficult to come by. The researchers, however, were able to gather information -- from a website run by an adoption intermediary -- over a five-year period (between 2004 and 2009). The intermediary works to bring together -- to match -- potential adoptive parents with birth mothers seeking to relinquish their children for adoption.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100420142039.htm

[marshall]

1. Remember the Duke professor known online as "perv dad 4 fun"?

He said Africdan American boys were great for pedophilia because of just this observation--they are difficult to adopt and when they are adopted there is less oversight.

I would like to see them address not just "single sex parents" but also the single parent.

[ck4829]

2. And yet, all the right wing does is reduce the number of parents available