Maybe Race Should be a Factor in Foster Child Placement

Poor outcomes in foster children (incarceration, ill health, underachievement, etc.) have been linked to a lack of parental investment. Pitt law professor David Herring says laboratory research in evolutionary biology is showing that adults are likely to invest more, both emotionally and materially, in a child that resembles them--a child that could be "kin". But the federal "Multiethnic Placement Act" of 1994 prohibits public child welfare agencies from considering race when placing a child in foster care.

In several laboratory studies, according to Prof. Herring, adult subjects are shown five photos of different children, one of which is a "self-morph" of the subject's own features. Asked a series of questions, the adults overwhelmingly favor the "self-morph" 70- to 90% of the time. For example, 90% would adopt the self-morph. Not one adult said he or she would punish the self-morph harshly for breaking something valuable.

Professor Herring is involved in an Allegheny County project that will conduct field studies of foster children to see if the federal law banning consideration of race may inadvertently harm children. Other studies of the evolutionary concepts like "kinship cues" and facial resemblance have shown that stepchildren are 7 times likelier to be abused and 100 times likelier to be killed than children genetically related to both parents in their home.

Professor Herring is presenting his hypothesis as part of a lecture series at Pitt's Center on Race and Social Problems.