The overarching theme of this inter-disciplinary article is to present and clarify issues pertaining to the adoption of African American children by White American parents. More specifically, the purposes of this article are: to review relevant literature and research regarding the transracial adoption debate; explain the legal aspects and practice of transracial adoption; and discuss the implications for counseling practice and potential implications or concerns for counselors.

In this article, the authors examine the crisis in the explosion in the number of children in the foster care system in the United States; and in particular, the effects on African American children. The article applies the interdisciplinary tools of law and counseling to analyze current structure and policy of transracial adoption and its implications for African American children.

The authors argue that transracial adoptions and the color-blind approach, which is encouraged and required by federal statute, do not serve the best interests of the majority of African American children in foster care who are awaiting permanent homes. Rather, the two-pronged approach of increased recruitment of African American, non-kin adoptive families in addition to an in-depth focus on kinship care and adoption will more readily decrease the number of children living in foster care.