When Martina Brockway and Mike Timble, a white couple in Chicago, decided to adopt a child, Ms. Brockway went to an adoption agency presentation at a Black church to make it clear they wanted an African-American baby.

Their biological daughter, Rumeur, 3, is accumulating Black dolls in preparation for her new brother or sister. Black-themed children’s books like Please, Baby, Please by filmmaker Spike Lee and his wife, Tonya Lewis Lee, share shelf space with Elmo and Dr. Seuss.

But the couple’s decision provoked some uneasy responses. One of Mr. Timble’s white friends asked, “Aren’t there any white kids available?”

Ms. Brockway’s Black friends were supportive. “But,” she said, “I also sensed that there was maybe something they weren’t saying.”

Mr. Timble cut in. “Like maybe they were thinking, ‘What do these people think they are doing?’”

Ms. Brockway and Mr. Timble are among a growing number of white couples pushing past cultural resistance to adopt Black children. In 2004, 6 percent of Black children adopted from foster care, about 4,200, were adopted transracially, nearly all by white families. That is up from roughly 14 percent, or 2,200, in 1998, according to a New York Times analysis of data from the National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect at Cornell University and the New York Department of Health and Human Services.

“It is a significant increase,” said Rita Simo, a sociologist at American University, who has written several books on transracial adoption. “It is getting easier, bureaucratically and socially. With so many people going overseas, people are also increasingly saying, ‘Wait a minute, there are children here who need to be adopted, too.’”

The 2000 census—the first in which adoption data was collected—showed that just over 16,000 white households included adopted Black children. Adoption experts say there has been a notable increase since 2000.

The reasons for the increase are varied. The Multiethnic Placement Act and its amendments prohibited federally financed agencies from denying adoption based on race. The foster care system has changed significantly, now offering financial incentives for placing children with permanent families.

A combination of legal changes and a greater acceptance of multicultural families—Americans have adopted more than 200,000 children from overseas in the past 15 years—has helped lessen resistance from both Black and white communities. The long wait for white children and the high costs of international adoption—typically $15,000 to $35,000—have also played a role.

Agencies are now offering courses to help adoptive parents enter the process with greater cultural awareness.

Ms. Brockway and Mr. Timble decided to adopt after a physically and emotionally wrenching first pregnancy—their daughter was delivered at 25 weeks. They did not want to face the long wait for a white infant, and international adoption did not appeal to them.

“Some people see Asian or other ethnicities closer to white, more acceptable, easier,” said Ms. Brockway, a teacher. “That’s just not us. We feel like we have the open arms and minds to be a good match to an African-American child.”

Challenges and Racial Considerations

In practice, however, racial considerations still influence adoption placements. Since 1994, white prospective parents have filed and largely won more than two dozen discrimination lawsuits, according to state and federal court records. Many more disputes have been settled out of court.

The complex and often contradictory viewpoints surrounding transracial adoptions persist.

The National Association of Black Social Workers, in 1972, famously likened white families adopting Black children to “cultural genocide.” The group removed the genocide reference in 1994 but still recommends same-race placements. Organizations like the Child Welfare League argue that while race should not be the primary factor, it also should not be ignored.

Many Black families worry that white parents may not be fully equipped to prepare Black children for the realities of navigating racial identity in America.

“Adoption, like everything else in this country, gets filtered through the lens of race,” said Joseph Crumbley, a Black social worker in Philadelphia and a consultant on transracial adoptions. “For Blacks, it is about how comfortable whites can be in dealing with race when their race is in conflict with the race of the child.”

At the same time, some Black families question why white parents adopt internationally while so many Black children in the U.S. remain in foster care.

“I can’t help but wonder why Angelina and Brad can’t adopt an African-American baby here with so many in need,” said Ishia Granger, 36, a Black friend of Ms. Brockway.

More than 45,000 Black children were waiting to be adopted from foster care in 2004.

Discrimination in the Adoption Process

Both Black and white adoptive families sometimes feel discriminated against.

• Charlene White, a Black adoptive mother in Richmond, VA, said that when she and her husband began the process in 1997, a counselor asked them about drug and criminal records, while a white couple they knew was not.
• Nick and Emil Mebruer, a white couple in Missouri, were initially denied the adoption of a Black child by a white judge who ruled they were “uniquely unqualified” because of their limited interaction with Black culture. The ruling was later overturned, and their daughter, Maggie, is now 3.

Beyond Love: The Need for Cultural Awareness

White families adopting Black children are increasingly learning that the “love is enough” approach is not always sufficient.

Robert O’Connor, 39, was raised by a white family in a small town with few other Black people. “I always felt like I had this ‘A’ on my forehead—adoptee—that people could see from a distance,” said O’Connor, now a professor of social work.

Today, some agencies are working to avoid past mistakes. Ms. Brockway and Mr. Timble are adopting through The Cradle, a Chicago-based agency that offers extensive counseling for transracial adoptive parents.

One exercise meant to assess parents’ comfort level with racial issues lists stereotypes like “lazy,” “passive,” and “athletic” and asks parents to assign them to racial or ethnic groups, challenging implicit biases.

Judy Stigger, a counselor at The Cradle and a white adoptive mother of two Black children, makes the issues tangible by sharing real-life experiences.

She recalls how her son, as a teenager, reached into her purse at McDonald’s—and a clerk called security.

Her daughter, as a child, once cried when she noticed that every congratulatory card from family and friends featured only white children.

“Was I supposed to have been white?” her daughter asked.

“We don’t need colorblind families—we need color-aware families.”