It seems the “color blind” policy is not always the right one. It would be wonderful if we treated everybody equally, no matter what their skin color is, but there are situations when we need to take skin color into consideration.

A 1994 federal law that encouraged the adoption of black children by white families actually had more disadvantages than it had advantages.

A report by the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, a nonprofit adoption advocacy and research organization based in New York, outlines the law’s weak points and recommends major changes in the adoption policy it promotes.

The report notes that color consciousness, not color blindness, should “help to shape policy development.”

Groups such as The North American Council on Adoptable Children, the Child Welfare League of America, the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption and the National Association of Black Social Workers, support the report’s recommendations.

The Multi-Ethnic Placement Act prohibits race from being considered a factor in most decisions about adoption from foster care. That means white parents who wish to adopt a black child will go through the same training as the parents who want to adopt a child of their own race. Although the act had been proposed with good intentions, in an attempt to remove barriers and help minority children find loving families, it seems it couldn’t make justice to African-American children, who make up one-third of all children in foster care.

But the new report says that a special training for parents who adopt children of a race different than their own has a lot of benefits both for the parents and the adopted children.

"We tried to assess what was working and what wasn't, and came to the conclusion that preparing parents who adopt transracially benefits everyone, especially the children," said Adam Pertman, the Donaldson Institute's executive director, according to the Associated Press.

Pertman said that, even though the colorblind policy was “a wonderful and idealistic perspective,” one had to admit that race was an important factor to be taken into account when adopting transracially.

"If we want to do the best for the kids, we have to look at their realities," he said.

The Donaldson report emphasizes that black children adopted by white parents tend to struggle with identity issues related to skin color and discrimination, while their parents are not prepared to handle such situations. The report suggests that the parents who adopt transracially “could use a little coaching” to help their children grow up normally and harmoniously.

However, the president of the National Council for Adoption claims the report is unnecessary, as the MEPA policy is not completely colorblind when it comes to transracial adoptions. According to the Washington post, Thomas C. Atwood says that “some state agencies have misinterpreted and executed the policy this way, but . . . guidelines are quite clear in allowing certain considerations of race.”

Atwood said he did not understand why someone would try to demonstrate the obvious fact that transracial adoption involved “additional challenges and responsibilities.” He also claims “the vast majority of transracial adoptive families are well aware of this reality and handle it quite well.”

Still, the report emphasizes that there is a higher rate of problems in minority foster children adopted transracially than in children adopted by parents of the same race. The report also notes that all children deserve to be raised in families which respect their cultural heritage.