The Clinton Adoption Plan

WASHINGTON, D.C.: President Clinton latched on to a piece of the GOP's Contract With America Monday by endorsing legislation that gives adoptive parents a $5,000 tax credit and penalizes states that discourage interracial adoptions. White House spokesman Mike McCurry denied that the President was co-opting a Republican idea and said that identifying ways to help prospective adoptive parents overcome administrative obstacles has been a goal since the President entered office. But in wooing moderate Republicans, Clinton risks alienating a core of black constituents that oppose interracial adoptions. Opponents, such as the National Association of Black Social Workers, say a child may never learn about their cultural heritage or may suffer emotional hardship if raised by parents of another race, says TIME's Sharon Epperson. "Opponents say white parents need to recognize that this is a child of color who will face all the racism they never faced." Epperson notes that opponents believe that if white parents do not teach adopted children of color about their history or address the unique discrimination these children face growing up, then they are doing them no great service. All parties involved in the adoption process -->