The best long-term solution for the half-a-million children in temporary foster care is adoption by loving parents. Many prospective parents are willing to adopt a child of different race, but in some cases the obstacles are daunting.

Since the early 1970s, the National Association of Black Social Workers (NABSW) has fought against transracial adoption, arguing that the practice is destructive to minority families and communities. Following the NABSW's lead, many states passed laws prohibiting transracial adoption.

But as the numbers of minority children in foster care swelled, the need to find permanent homes became more urgent. In 1994, Congress passed the Multi-Ethnic Placement Act (MEPA). MEPA forbids placement agencies to use race as the sole factor in deciding whether a family can adopt a child. However, the law does allow race to be one of several factors taken into consideration, often making it difficult to prove racial discrimination in cases when adoption is denied. To date, the Department of Health and Human Services, the agency charged with enforcement of MEPA, has found no violations of the law despite several high profile lawsuits brought by white parents denied custody of the minority foster children.

On One Hand...

For a child moving from place to place in foster care, being adopted by a permanent family is more important than the color of the adoptive family's skin. With proper sensitivity to the child's racial heritage, children can thrive in families of a different race.

The existence of mixed race families can create a more positive attitude towards race in society.

On the Other Hand...

It is better to reunite a foster child with his or her biological family, or place the child with a family of the same race, than to allow a family of a different race to adopt the child. Minority children raised by white families lack a sense of their racial heritage and are often exposed to racial prejudice they might not experience if they were raised in their own communities. Only a same-race family and community can raise a child to survive and thrive in a racist society.

• It is estimated that there are 5 million adopted individuals in the U.S.

• At least 107,000 of the 507,000 children currently in foster care are waiting for adoption.

• Of all the children currently in foster care, 56 percent are African-American and 9 percent are Hispanic.

• 175,000 black or biracial children have been adopted domestically by white parents since 1968.

Child Welfare League of America, U.S. Department of Heath and Human Services, Transracial Adoption Group