Escrito por Antoinette Cockerham (directora de operaciones)
Este mes, mientras celebramos el Mes de la Historia Afroamericana, me he tomado el tiempo para reflexionar sobre la historia de la adopción afroamericana, el papel que Spence-Chapin ha desempeñado en esa historia y los muchos cambios alentadores que he presenciado en mi carrera de más de 25 años. trabajando en adopción.
Hace poco más de 25 años, acababa de terminar la escuela de trabajo social y había identificado el bienestar infantil como el centro de mi pasión. Me di cuenta de que, para ser eficaz en mi trabajo con las familias, necesitaba el apoyo de una organización con valores sólidos: integridad, respeto mutuo, diversidad, creatividad y oportunidades.
Spence-Chapin had built a firm foundation that I could appreciate. A non-profit, nonsectarian New York City organization that had placed almost 18,000 children with permanent families by the time I arrived. In the early 1900s, the founders, Clara Spence and Alice Chapin, independently established nurseries for homeless infants left in hospitals and shelters, then placed those infants into permanent adoptive homes. They were women who cared and worked on behalf of children and families. Just happens that those families were white. The two organizations merged into The Spence-Chapin Adoption Service then incorporated in 1946 and immediately began developing a program to find homes for black children. I could get behind that kind of vision.
Spence-Chapin’s Board of Directors recommended that a student from the New York School of Social Work study the need for adoption “among the black population” and do research in Harlem. This student arranged a meeting with Sra. Gladys Randolph, Director de Trabajo Social del Hospital Harlem, y conoció sobre los 18 bebés del hospital que interactuaban con al menos 33 personas diferentes todos los días y que estaban a punto de cumplir dos años. en el hospital.
The Spence-Chapin Board studied these findings and launched the African American Adoption Program shortly thereafter in October of 1946. By early 1947, two black children were placed with black families. By 1948, the agency had hired a black social worker to find boarding homes and to distribute information in Harlem to let people know that Spence-Chapin was a new resource for children.
Con más investigaciones, descubrí líderes negros más notables, muchos de ellos mujeres, que habían contribuido al desarrollo de Spence-Chapin. Hubert Delaney, brother of the famous Delaney sisters (“Having Our Say – The Delaney Sisters’ First 100 Years”), fue elegido miembro de la junta directiva de Spence-Chapin en 1950. At a major conference on social services, Mr. Delaney said: “Spence-Chapin is moving forward in this service [adoption] which is leveling racial barriers and making a genuine contribution to our democratic way of life.”
En 1951, Rachel (Sra. Jackie) Robinson was recruited to Spence-Chapin’s “Committee to Develop Adoption Resources” also known as the “Home Finding Committee”.
Ella copresidió el comité brevemente con la Sra. Eleanor Roosevelty fue elegido miembro de la junta directiva de Spence-Chapin en 1953.
Otras mujeres a las que podía emular habían apoyado los esfuerzos de reclutamiento de familias negras de Spence-Chapin a lo largo de la década de 1950, entre ellas Sra. Hubert Delany; Sra. Ralph Bunche, esposa del estadista, activista y Premio Nobel de la Paz en 1950; y la famosa contralto afroamericana, Sra. Marian Anderson. Reconocida en todo el mundo por su asombrosa voz, la Sra. Anderson también era conocida como la mujer para quien los Roosevelt habían orquestado una actuación en el Monumento a Lincoln en 1939 después de que las Hijas de la Revolución Americana se negaran a permitirle cantar ante una audiencia integrada. Sra. Jane D. Edwards, una trabajadora social negra y exitosa directora de programas, fue Director ejecutivo de Spence-Chapin de 1967 a 1990.
En 1968, Spence-Chapin funda Harlem-Dowling, a branch of the organization that would be situated in Harlem and staffed by residents of Harlem. The annual report of that year states: “We believe that by backing this branch with our name, reputation, resources and technical knowledge, we can help the new agency gain full momentum more quickly than if it started on its own. We intend to help the community create an independent, self-supporting agency serving its own needs.” The two agencies parted ways in the late 1980’s when Harlem-Dowling decided to expand its foster care services, and Spence-Chapin chose to end its foster care programs in order to focus on adoption.
En la década de 1990, la Ley federal de Colocación Multiétnica (MEPA, por sus siglas en inglés) dominaba la práctica de la adopción. La MEPA declaró que la raza, el color y/o el origen nacional no podían utilizarse para retrasar (o negar) la colocación de ningún niño en una familia y exigía la aplicación de “esfuerzos diligentes” para ampliar el número de familias (de crianza) y adoptivas racial y étnicamente diversas. padres. Una vez más, Spence-Chapin actuó fortaleciendo sus programas para reclutar y apoyar a familias adoptivas negras.
Spence-Chapin contrató a un experimentado especialista en medios negros y fundó un grupo voluntario de padres adoptivos negros conocido como Comité Asesor de Padres Afroamericanos (AAPAC). AAPAC advised Spence-Chapin on matters concerning African-American adoption policies, practices, recruitment, and raised money to defray adoption costs for potential adoptive families. Between 1993 and 2011, AAPAC raised $277,000 and helped 135 children to join their families.
I was hired during this period (in October of 1992) and quickly moved through various roles as African American Adoption Program caseworker, supervisor, manager, adoptive family recruitment coordinator, associate director then director of the Domestic Adoption Program, and now Executive Vice President of External Relations and Family Services. Throughout the years, I recruited adoptive families, designed efficient internal systems, trained social workers, and created new programs such as The Adoptive Fathers Support Group through which fathers from the African-American Adoption Program supported other men throughout the adoption process. They taught new fathers about the joys and challenges of fatherhood, and mentored them on how to raise black, adopted children to have healthy self-esteem. The fathers’ support group also helped to produce a video in which they discussed their real-life adoption stories, described how they had decided to adopt, how they tell their children the stories of their adoptions, and how they talk about adoption to friends and family.
My efforts to recruit black adoptive families included outreach to black churches, black sororities & fraternities, professional associations and community organizations. I managed the media-focused outreach program with Spence-Chapin Communications Department, and broadcast adoption to black families via the internet, and the media including KISS-FM, POWER 105-FM, WLIB-AM, WLIW-TV, AM New York, Harlem Parent Magazine, Black and Latino social work newsletters, Google, Yahoo, the Spence-Chapin Facebook page and website. Scores of families were created during that time, many of whom continue to be connected to Spence-Chapin and its programs to this day. Today, working in collaboration with the innovative development, marketing and outreach departments at Spence-Chapin, I continue to reach out to families through television interviews (“Here and Now” (ABC TV), 112BK (BRIC TV), Brooklyn Savvy), panel discussions (“The Wickedest Woman” theatrical production), by moderating adoption related seminars, representing adoption interests at community events (WOW at the Apollo Theater, Harlem Chamber of Commerce), with foundations and other donors. Those who may benefit from Spence-Chapin’s adoption, family coaching, and support services must know that they exist.
La adopción ha evolucionado a lo largo de un cuarto de siglo. Se ha vuelto más inclusivo, más diverso y más accesible. Sin embargo, siempre hay trabajo por hacer y estoy orgulloso de estar en una organización que continúa creyendo y viviendo ese esfuerzo: ser parte de la fuerza impulsora para garantizar que sigamos avanzando, encontrando amor y permanentemente para los niños. quienes los necesitan.