Martin Luther King Jr. and Foster Care Adoption

I've never seen the overt discrimination against which Dr. King worked. I was born in the 80's, and where I grew up, he was celebrated. So much has been accomplished and should be celebrated.

There is more yet to do. Fully equal treatment hasn't arrived. Because my focus is so often on foster care adoption, I can't help but thinking of that world when I think about Dr. King. Children of non-White ethnicity end up in foster care disproportionally more than simple demographic statistics would suggest. If they can't reunify, children who aren't  White have a harder time finding an adoptive family. Some families that do desire to adopt children of different cultures or races are unaware of the importance of that child's culture and unaware of the experiences that the child will have because of their race. Overt discrimination is mostly gone -- but covertly, it still happens.

One thing I know: older kids of every culture are waiting in foster care for a family to live with forever. Kids of every age who are part of sibling sets - or who are not White - or who have some special need - are also waiting in foster care for a family to live with forever.

I have a dream - or at least a wish - that one day, children will be either reunified with their families or adopted out of foster care. But that they won't languish in foster care. A dream that they will not be judged by the color of their skin - or their age - or their special needs -- but by the content of their character and by their worth as children created in the image of God.

Maybe you can help.

More movie reviews coming soon.

Dr. King's speech