Child fosterage in the United States: Signs of an African Heritage

Abstract

In the course of the twentieth century, African American families have been the objects of a great deal of debate and commentary in social science fields, as well as in popular discourse. The article considers the basis for this discussion: the presence of significant numbers of family and household structures among African Americans that differ from traditional Euro-American models. Western nuclear families are typically centered around marriage, while African, and to a significant degree African American, families are structured around children. The recently developed U.S. Census public use samples and measures oriented to the practices of informal child fosterage are used to examine and compare these different bases of family life. Data from the turn of the century provide some historical distance from previous explanations of difference centered on slavery, or explanations that focus on contemporary social issues such as urban problems or the welfare state. Comparisons with studies of the contemporary U.S., Africa, the Caribbean, and historical materials give broader scope to fosterage analysis and to the consideration of cultural family differences.