FOR MANY YEARS, transracial adoption—adoption across racial lines—was practically nonexistent. Most agencies placed children with parents who resembled them in as many details as possible, attempting to match not only skin color but religion and ethnicity as well. Thus, Jewish children would be offered only to Jewish families, and a light-skinned northern European family would rarely be permitted to adopt a darker-skinned southern European child.

During the 1960s, however, this situation began to change. The number of healthy white babies available for adoption started to decrease. Easier access to birth control and abortion played a part; so did a gradual loosening of the stigma against unwed motherhood. At the same time, the number of black children entering the foster care system shot up. Some white families who were interested in adoption were unable to find children who were racial and ethnic matches...