Black Children Make Up Disproportionate Amount of Foster Children

Today, one of the problems for the black community is that such a large number of black children do not have permanent homes. Many children in the state`s foster care system are black. The Arkansas Department of Human Service is taking Black History Month at the time to get the word out to minority organizations that they need more families especially for minority children. For the last fiscaly year of 2003, DHS says they`ve had more than 6,000 children throughout the year. Twenty-nine percent of them were black and 60% were white. Out of 551 foster children available for adoption, 32% were black and 59% were white. DHS say that`s still an over-representation of black children in foster care because they`re entering the system at high rates. "The Black community is probably disproportionately adversely affected by drugs, that`s affecting the whole community. And a lot of the children who come into care, it`s drug-related problems," Gloria Aboagye, head of adoptions at DHS. In Pulaski County, 60% of children in foster care in 2002 were black children. DHS says it`s not only hard to place black children because of lack of awareness, but it`s especially hard to place teenagers with foster or adoptive homes. For information on adopting or becoming a foster parent call the DHS hotline at 800-235-0002 or click on the following link: www.state.ar.us/dhs