By AFRO Staff
Many single black females are choosing to adopt children. (Courtesy Photo/ptvn.com)
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(July 5, 2009) - Marriage and motherhood is a dream that begins in childhood for many. Increasing numbers of African-American women are deciding to adopt instead of waiting for a husband, according to a California-based group.
“We're seeing more and more single African-American women who are not finding men,” Mardie Caldwell, founder of Lifetime Adoption, an adoption referral and support group in Penn Valley, California told CNN. "There's a lack of qualified black men to get into relationships with."
According to the 2006 U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey, 45 percent of African-American women have never been married, compared with 23 percent of White women.
Others said that the decision to adopt isn't just driven by the lack of eligible African-American men.
Toni Oliver, founder and CEO of Roots Adoption Agency in Atlanta, Georgia, told CNN her agency sees more single African-American women adopting because of infertility issues.
Some of the infertility issues may be related to advancing age or health issues, she says. But the result of not being a mother for many older African-American women is the same: panic.
"Their doctors, friends and family are telling them the same thing: 'You're not getting younger; you better hurry up,' '' Oliver says.