RECRUITING MEXICAN AMERICAN ADOPTIVE PARENTS

Abstract

This study of 591 Mexican Americans evaluated various strategies for recruiting prospective Mexican American adoptive parents. Approximately one-third of the sample reported an interest in adoption but many perceived both structural and cultural obstacles to adoption. Multivariate analyses of the predictors of future adoption using various hypothetical recruiting strategies indicated that the perception of structural obstacles to adoption, not initial interest in adoption, was the strongest predictor of future likelihood to adopt. Suggestions are presented to increase the recruitment of Mexican American prospective adoptive parents. Increased attention is being given to identifying and recruiting minority prospective adoptive parents, particularly in light of the ongoing debate over the role of race and ethnicity in adoptive placements. Although there is generally no shortage of prospective Caucasian adoptive parents for Caucasian infants, minority children and children with special needs are less fortunate, at least in part because the recruitment of adoptive parents is not consistent across racial/ethnic groups [Simon & Altstein 1992]. Two issues have been associated with the more limited recruitment of families from minority communities: (1) potential minority adoptive parents may not be reached by current recruitment efforts to the same extent as their nonminority peers, and (2) eligibility requirements of many adoption agencies may eliminate (or have done so in the past) a sizable pool of potential minority adoptive parents. Further complicating this issue is the debate over the appropriateness of interracial/ethnic adoption, which, in this article, refers to adoptions in which the adoptive parents and children are racially and/or ethnically incongruent. Because the practice of interracial/ethnic adoption has implications for minority children in terms of loss of cultural heritage, identity conflicts, and difficulties dealing with racism [Andujo 1988; McRoy et al. 1982], it is the authors' position that racially/ethnically congruent adoptive placements are preferred, all else being equal, and that greater efforts must be made to identify and recruit families from minority communities. This article focuses on the recruitment of Mexican American prospective adoptive parents and their interest in adopting Mexican American children. It examines the likelihood of adoption among Mexican Americans, their perceptions of the efficacy of certain recruiting techniques to increase Mexican American adoptions, their beliefs about the importance of structural and cultural obstacles to adoption, and their interest in adoption if particular recruitment strategies are implemented. It also considers the impact of the Multi-Ethnic Placement Act of 1994 (P.L. 103382) and the Interethnic Placement Amendments of 1996 (P.L. 104188) on the identification and recruitment of prospective adoptive parents from minority communities. Lastly, it assesses certain strategies for recruiting Mexican American families that agencies have used with some success. Literature Review Background and Trends Most instances of interracial/ethnic adoption involve Caucasian families adopting children of other races/ethnicities [Bachrach et al. 1990]. Simon and Altstein [1992] assert that interracial/ethnic adoptions have increased over recent years, not so much by design but more as an accommodation to reality. With the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade legalizing abortion, the increased availability of contraceptive methods, and the growing trend for single mothers to parent their children, the availability of Caucasian infants for adoption has decreased over the past 25 years [Bachrach et al. 1992]. As a result, many Caucasian prospective adoptive parents have turned to more readily available infants of color. Interracial/ethnic adoption, however, has not been uniformly accepted. Opposition to interracial/ethnic adoption, specifically of African American children by Caucasian parents, gained momentum in the early 1970s when the National Association of Black Social Workers spoke out against the practice. …