United by Adoption : Need for Foster Parents Nurtures Alliance of Latino, Black Agencies

Maria Quintanilla, former director of the Hispanic Family Institute, has a different take on what it means to be adopted.

For years Quintanilla and a handful of social workers scoured the city as part of a successful program encouraging Latino families to adopt and take in Latino foster children.

But then last year disaster struck.

The institute--the state’s first private Latino adoption and foster care agency--was forced to close its doors in East Los Angeles. Its parent organization had gone bankrupt.

Suddenly, Quintanilla and her staff found themselves looking for a home: a licensed adoption and foster care agency willing to take them in under their license so they could continue coordinating Latino adoptions.

After a brief scramble, they found one. In a region where relations between Latinos and African Americans are often characterized as brittle, the Latino adoption agency is now operating as a division of the Institute for Black Parenting in Inglewood.

The unusual and nurturing relationship has been applauded by social workers--particularly Latinos, who first looked at it with suspicion.

“This is not a traditional kind of relationship,” said Carlos Sosa, a retired deputy director of the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services. He compared it to a clothing store closing and a competitor coming along and taking the rival in until it can build up its clientele. “It doesn’t happen,” he said.

The pairing was forced in part by the overwhelming number of children who are in out-of-home placements in the Los Angeles area. Of the more than 50,000 children living outside their homes in Los Angeles County, African American children account for 20,400 and Latinos make up 15,400, according to the state Department of Social Services.

“We have been welcomed in because we are on a similar mission to find families that are underrepresented,” Quintanilla said. “This is something that just makes sense.”

Under the agreement, the Latino agency--which has changed its name to the Latino Family Institute--will remain under the umbrella of the African American institute until it completes the licensing procedure to once again become a full adoption and foster care agency.

*

Zena Oglesby Jr., the Institute for Black Parenting’s executive director, said his organization recognized that the Latino agency was about to go out of business when its parent organization, El Centro Human Services Corp., filed for bankruptcy.

“We really feel a kinship with them,” Oglesby said. “Too often government agencies put just enough money out there so that programs end up fighting over what’s left. We see that we have more in common than we don’t have in common.”

The black institute, launched in 1988, is a year older than its Latino counterpart and shares many of the same goals to recruit and train minority parents to adopt children.

Social workers say parents from both groups are often discouraged from adopting by insensitive bureaucracies, misinformation about the qualifications needed for adoptions and cultural fears.

While informal adoption--sharing the upbringing of children--is common among immigrant families, the intense and prolonged scrutiny of the official adoption process can be intimidating and discourages families from participating, Quintanilla said. In addition, she said, adoptions are frowned on by some Latinos because they carry the stigma of infertility in a culture that puts a high premium on motherhood and virility.

Under the African American organization, the Latino institute has “reestablished itself as an agency with a good track record,” said Frank Cisneros, a state program specialist.

“There were some initial concerns expressed by professional Latino social workers because the decision was just made without bringing anyone in to discuss it,” said Zaida Ramos, a board member of Trabajadores de la Raza, whose social workers raise money for scholarships for students who want to join their profession. But “the more we join together, the more we are able to advocate for all children.”

Quintanilla said the programs will maintain separate staffs and administrations. The programs include 10-week parental training courses in which prospective parents are told how to handle discipline and children’s separation from birth or foster families. Applicants must have clean driving records, no criminal records and adequate space for children--no more than two people per bedroom.

Some rules are flexible. Owning a house is not required. Nor is it mandatory that the parent be married.

Recently, the two institutes received a $200,000 grant to aid a joint effort to recruit families. The Latino agency is busy raising additional funds to complete licensing and establishment of nonprofit status. It is also continuing to provide services for families it has completed matches for.

*

They are people like Socorro and Nester Ruiz, Mexican immigrants who live in South-Central Los Angeles with their adopted children, Marcos, 4, and Nina, 3, a brother and sister.

“We have a small house, but we are happy,” said Socorro Ruiz. “I feel like they are my children. “

Married since 1988, the couple turned to the Latino Family Institute when they could not have children of their own. After finishing the lengthy application, they received the two children. The bureaucratic process is nearly completed.

Outside the house, they have two dogs, and baby chickens in a coop. Inside, the children’s room is packed with stuffed animals and books.

“They are very happy with us,” Nester Ruiz said. “Thank God. We love them.”