Transracial Adoption and the Federal Adoption Subsidy

Abstract

Raymond Bullard was two and a half years old when he was removed from his foster home, where he had lived happily for two years with a white family, to be placed with a black family. Raymond was taken from the only home he had known because the Philadelphia Department of Human Services had a policy against long-term interracial foster care and adoption placements. The removal was in no way attributed to the quality of care provided by Raymond's foster parents. Two years later, Raymond was diagnosed as clinically depressed. His speech impediment had grown worse and he displayed excessive aggression and preoccupation with death. Only after this diagnosis was made did the federal district court return Raymond to his initial foster home.