How does adoptism affect African American women facing an unplanned pregnancy? It limits their access to the option of adoption. There is a general conviction within the adoption community that African American women simply do not place babies for adoption. We are concerned about two aspects that limit African American women's access to adoption services: agency and independent institutional practices that deny adoption services to Black women and community practices that justify the denial. All women - not just those who will produce the babies most eagerly sought by traditional adoptive parents - deserve a full range of choices when facing an untimely pregnancy.

The Black community generally has strong feelings against adoption. That women would have no reason to consider adoption is often explained in positive terms: first, that because of the strength of family ties within the Black community, adoption is not necessary ("We take care of our own"), and second, that single parent families do not incur stigmatization. On the other hand, while Black women are accused of immorality, breeding for profit, or raising welfare costs, adoption is considered an unlikely choice because "they are only delivering babies to serve as meal tickets." From either point of view, African American women are being viewed as members of a group, not as individuals. But what about those who would want to have access to adoption services? Why should they have fewer choices?

Choosing to entrust a child to another family to raise in adoption is usually an act of great self-sacrifice. It is not a decision anyone makes all at once. Every day, both before and after the birth, parents must ask themselves if they are making the right decision or if their choice was in the best interests of their child. Such women are confronted with an unfair burden, a clear demonstration of "adoptism" in action: facing the personal dilemmas of this difficult choice while also having to do battle with one's own community and meeting resistance from professionals who may simply say they have no families available to adopt a child of color.

The only way to change things is to grant each individual the right to make a personal choice and to respect the diversity of opinions that will result. Equal services must be available regardless of race. This equality means that adoption professionals must insist of themselves that they offer pre-adoption services to women of color - treating not just after the birth, along with the child, but before the birth, when the options may be greatest.

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