August 1992
Livingstone College
Salisbury, N.C.

Too many black children in America do not find permanent homes with black families. What are the reasons for this sad fact? Is the existing system guilty of insensitivity, or is the black community itself not responding? A panel of experts tackles these disturbing questions in a lively discussion during the next Black Issues Forum: The Forgotten Children airs Monday Sept. 28,1992 at 8:00 pm.

As recently as ten years ago, black children were deemed unadoptable by most agencies. One of those children, panelist Shane Salter, eventually found a home after several unsuccessful attempts and a turbulent time spent with his birth father. He is now an adoptive parent himself and an eloquent advocate for African-American children. "Middle-class black American owe every black child a home," says Salter, who believes the way to encourage more black families to adopt is through the churches.

Agencies' inability to identify prospective parents within the African-American community has been a constant problem. The panel unanimously agreed that the adoption system in the U.S., in its present form is not attuned to black culture or experience, and this, according to panelist Jacquelyn Bailey-Kidd, inadvertently screens black families out. To change the mind-set will take a unifies effort of all the community-based agencies specifically promoting African-American Adoptions.

The extremely knowledgeable panel includes Ruth Amerson, president of the North Carolina Association Friends of Black Children in Sanford; Shirley Harris of the Guilford County Department of Social Services; Jacquelyn BaileyKidd of the Virginia Department of Social Services and Liaison to the One Church One Child program in Petersburg, Va.; Zena Oglesty, executive director of the Institute for Black parenting in Los Angeles, Ca.; Toni Oliver, adoption consultant with J.T. Oliver & Association in Atlanta, Ga.; and Shane Salter, an adoptive parent and former foster child.

The moderator for Black Issues Forum is Valeria Lee, chair of the University of North Carolina Center for Public Television Board of Trustees and program development officer for the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation. Dr. Paul Vandergrift is the series executive producer, and Jim Bramlett is the producer.

North Carolina Public Television is the program service for the University of North Carolina Center for Public television.