ABSTRACT
It can be difficult to get a clear idea of the number of black children who need foster or adoptive homes at any one time. It is accepted, however, that in urban and inner-city areas not only is the number of black children in care often disproportionately high in terms of the population at large, but black children are also more likely to be cared for in residential settings rather than in families, and to remain in care for longer than white children. In autumn 1984, of the 1,043 children in the care of one London borough, half were black; of these, 64 had been identified as needing families. Another borough had 28 black children on active referral to its fostering and adoption unit. At the same time, out of a total of 250 children referred throughout the UK to the British Agencies for Adoption and Fostering, 75 were black.
