Initial Agency Responses to Black Prospective Adopters: Results of a Small-Scale Study

Abstract

A prospective adopter's initial contact with an agency sets the tone for the rest of the assessment and placement process; an unsympathetic, culturally inappropriate response can lead to potential adopters turning elsewhere or giving up the idea of adopting altogether. Prior research has shown that negative feedback can also affect their friends' and family's likelihood of proposing themselves as adopters. Roger Fenton reports the results of a small-scale study of UK agencies, which indicates that agencies may be losing a valuable potential resource by their poor handling of initial enquiries from black out-of-area prospective adopters. Given the numbers of black children needing new families, agencies cannot afford to treat these applicants insensitively.