Wow! I think I remember LisaCA raising that important point first on here: the fact that AA do adopt at higher percentages but that the adoptions are usually familial in nature (within families or communities). I remember my grandmother telling me that for as long as she could remember, her mother and each generation ahead always kept extra seats at the table because you never knew who was going to stop by and need a meal. She said that her grandmother told her that this occurred during slavery when even on the slave ships, the slaves took care of one another. At that one horrific moment, no matter where they were from, they all shared the same things - the color of their skin and the horrible circumstances surrounding their enslavement. During slavery there were always women who were in charge of caring for the slave children whose mothers worked in the fields, truly a village raising the children. For those of us who can remember childhoods filled with older family members, neighbors or friends of our parents who sheltered, shielded, fed, scolded and loved us, this is the history of where that tradition began. Even after overcoming four hundred years of oppression (have we really?), this is one thing that remains, AAs do take care of their own when they can (and sometimes, even when they can't)!
