The Placement of Black Children with Permanent New Families

In 1987 a survey was conducted of eleven hundred and sixty-five children with ‘special needs’ placed by the major voluntary adoption agencies with permanent new families between 1980 and 1984 (Thoburn & Rowe, 1988; Fratter et al, 1991). Among those placed were 241 black children and children from other minority ethnic groups. Marilyn Charles, Stephen Rashid and June Thoburn report on an exploratory study undertaken in 1991 and 1992 of this cohort of children.