Black Children in Texas’ Foster Care
Fare Worse than Others, Study Says
Date: Tuesday, January 17, 2006
By: Michael H. Cottman

Black social workers said last week that a new study about black children and foster care is troubling and raises serious questions about the government’s commitment to caring for low-income families.

The study by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, which oversees the Department of Family and Protective Services, said black children stay in foster care significantly longer, are less likely to be reunited with their families and wait longer for adoption than white or Hispanic children.

"There are no children of the affluent in foster care. There are very, very few children from middle class families in foster care," Toni Oliver, executive director of Roots Adoption Agency in Atlanta, told BlackAmericaWeb.com. "Over 98 percent of the children in foster care are children from poor families. And it is evident that our government does not care about poor people, evidenced by the huge, recent consensus on the federal budget cut."