2 workers Fired for recommending IR Adoption: Lawsuit

By Stephanie Farr, Tuesday, July 2, 2013

TWO BLACK MEN, both of whom are former employees of the Women's Christian Alliance Foster Care Agency in Philadelphia, claim they were fired for recommending that a white, married couple adopt a black child. Akeem Dixon, a former recruiter, and Randolph Sanders, a former intake supervisor, filed a federal lawsuit last week against the Women's Christian Alliance (WCA) Foster Care Agency, which contracts with the city Department of Human Services.

The 2-year-old boy at the center of the suit, who is referred to only as "Child X," was in the care of a single, black foster mother in June 2012 when his placement goal was changed from foster care to adoption. In September, Dixon and Sanders identified a white Philadelphia couple as pre-adoptive parents for the black child.

Over the next few months, agency representatives visited the couple's home and the boy stayed with the couple on weekends. The wife, who asked to be identified only by her first name, Angela, said she fell in love with the toddler "the second I knew he was out there." "From that moment on it was the feeling of, 'This is our child,' " she said.

Angela, 36, said the boy was brought to their house sick, without his glasses and "stinking like cigarette smoke." According to the lawsuit and Angela, the couple received glowing reviews from WCA. However, in January, a DHS supervisor visited the couple's house for the first time, Angela said.

"She was asking me, 'How do you plan on raising a black man?' Angela said. "I said, 'I plan on raising him the same way I would a white man.' "

A week later, the couple was told by DHS that they would no longer get weekend visits. WCA stopped contacting the pair. In their suit, Dixon and Sanders claim that days before the placement of the boy in the couple's home, the child's foster care mother, who had never expressed interest in adopting him before, said she would consider adoption. "Because ... a Black female expressed interest in adopting Child X, also black, DHS withdrew its support of the adoption of Child X by ... a White family, solely because of their race," the suit said.

The suit claims WCA followed orders from DHS, ended the adoption with the white couple and subsequently fired Dixon and Sanders because they supported the couple as adoptive parents. Angela said she consulted with two attorneys who told her she had no grounds for a lawsuit. She is "100 percent" supportive of the terminated workers' suit.

Requests for comment to WCA and the attorney for Dixon and Sanders were not returned. DHS spokeswoman Alicia Taylor said she hadn't seen the suit and couldn't comment, but said DHS has a no-discrimination policy and that "race is not a factor in choosing the family."

Angela, however, disagrees. "We were hit with so much reverse racism in this process it's mind-boggling," she said. "I wish people would just stop being so afraid of race. You're black. I'm white. Yes. There's a kid that needs a home. Let's just move on."

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/2...interracial_adoption.html#x3RiWTohbIe1rK0A.99

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Total BS @ DHS spokeswoman. Give those men their jobs back! Angela hit the nail on the head at last paragraph.

 

Angela's last comment: :smt023

*smh* at this whole DHS nonsense. I hope the guys win this lawsuit and either get their jobs back or get better ones. They had the best interests of the child and couple at heart.

 

Hope so too.
Her mistake was not pandering to the visiting DHS worker's absurd question. Clearly DHS feel White women are incapable of raising black boys to become men.

If she had asked me, I would have replied, "MUCH BETTER than his bio mother has."

 

That is not why that question was asked. She asked that question to see if this woman understood the challenges(racism) that stand before the child and if she understands what she is getting herself into. That wasn't a correct answer. Tam is a good example. She is more sensitive to those problems. A white supremist group drives by your neighborhood. You don't go oh it is ok I raised him like I would a white man so he will be fine. or I raised him better than his mom did so he will be fine. You know. Just shows a possible Nativity on her side.

 

We get that. Really, we do.

 

Is that sarcasm ?

 

Which part of DHS statement of "DHS has a no-discrimination policy and that "race is not a factor in choosing the family." did you not get?

In other words its none of her damn business.

What she SHOULD be concerned about, and IS HER business in her job description, is to ask, "Can you feed, clothe, love, guide, educate and raise this child as a loving mother to him?"

Do you seriously think that the mother is not aware her adoptive son is Black? You truly give WW no credit. They KNOW his heritage will factor into their newly formed family. The QUESTION was simply naive of the DHS worker. And racist. She needs to worry about the REAL welfare of a child who came to this potential mother raggedy and unkempt under DHS's care.

What kind of question is that, "how are going to raise a Black man" like he's some alien. If she is more worried how she will deal with racism when he does, ASK that effing question.

Please explain to me Arch, how his bio-mother has 'raised him Black' so far, which equated to DHS as such an important factor as to deem this White mother incapable, and deny her the job of raising him?

 

I do not have enough time to do a rebuttal When I get back from work I will though.

 

Yes. Read the bolded below, in Bliss' post.

 

Sad story.

I've met more than a few Black people raised by White parents and they were well-adjusted functioning adults.

Love for a child is more important than how well a child color coordinates with his parents.:smt026

 

true.. am i racist for saying they also typically end up in college with good careers?

 

Just don't let Spike Lee hear that.

 

he cant talk, if im not mistaken his wife is mixed. lol. he got as close to a ww as he could

 

fools would rather have a child stay in the system before they let a white family adopt a black child.

whats love got to do with it

 

As I was saying before this nagging job got in the way.

The agency has to make sure that this lady is aware of these issues. It does not help one's case and does not show that you know the difficulties that a minority will have to face if you say "as I would a white man".Honestly, why would you answer a question like that knowing the difficulties that have face minorities due to the majority? Just a bad answer to a question. I'm not naive to think that every person that agency comes across is mother tersa. I know that agency isn't either. I'm not saying you are either. I also don't think you would have answered in such a foolish manner. They should be asking these questions to make sure that the child gets the best home and not placed into a woman like paula deen's house who up until recently had a very nice image but turns out to be a complete monster. Just because there are laws doesn't mean that the laws are for or against the child. I think the agency did a good attempt at it. I'm against discrimanting but I am not against people pretending that we are in a colorless society either. :wink:


edit: I love how you literally say "You truly give WW no credit" after literally quoting me giving credit to one. You are the only one giving me no credit about giving credit. You have got to see that, don't you?

 

agreed. I think you better stated it than I did in my initial post.