Race Matters: 10 White Celebrities Raising Black Children

Race is an important factor to consider when adopting a child. White children are usually the first to find new families, while black children wait the longest to find a home. Statistics from  “Love Isn’t Enough,”  a blog about parenting and race, examined the views of  families and the race of children they are open to adopting. They found 88 percent of the prospective parents would “accept” a white baby; 33 percent would “accept” a South American or Hispanic baby; 28 percent would “accept” an Asian baby and 14 percent would “accept” a black baby.

Internationally, black babies are only adopted 7 percent of the time, with most prospective parents preferring infants of European or Asian descent.

So why are white American celebrities choosing to adopt black children? We don’t know the answer to that, but we compiled a list of white celebrities who have chosen transracial adoption.

Check it out.

 

Theo Spielberg was born 1988 and adopted by Kate Capshaw before her marriage to famed director Steven Spielberg, who then adopted Theo. He also has another adopted black child, Mikaela George Spielberg.

 

On March 18, 2010, Modern Family’s Ty Burrell and his wife Holly adopted baby girl Frances, born here in America. In March 2012, the Burrells adopted a second daughter whose identity the couple chose to keep private.

Democracy needs journalism it can trust.

This election season, the stakes are higher than usual — and so is the pressure on newsrooms to soften their coverage, stay quiet, or just disappear. Independent reporting, the kind that answers to readers instead of advertisers or political pressure, matters more in a moment like this, not less.

For over 14 years, Atlanta Black Star has stayed independent and reader-funded. We have no corporate owner and no shareholders telling us what to cover or how to cover it. That independence is also our biggest vulnerability: nothing protects it except readers choosing to fund it directly.

Newspaper ad revenue has fallen more than 80% since 2005, and local newsrooms are closing at a rate of roughly two a week nationwide. When outlets go under in a moment like this, it's rarely the independent, reader-funded ones that get to stick around.

We know a request for support isn't why you came here. But without readers choosing to fund this work directly, the depth of reporting we can do at home and abroad shrinks along with everyone else's. If you're not in a position to give, that doesn't change how much we value you as a reader.

If you are able to, a recurring contribution does more for us than a single one-time gift, because it lets us plan the next investigation instead of just the next invoice. It takes about 30 seconds, no long form, no account. Thank you for continuing to support independent journalism and freedom of the press.

Back to top