another—permitted the DCFS to start proceedings to
terminate biological parents' legal rights even before the agency
had located adoptive parents. Its bipartisan sponsorship alone
would have made the package of proposals a candidate for prompt
legislative approval, but dramatic action by Father Clements, the
first president of One Church–One Child's board, undoubtedly
helped reduce any remaining opposition.
FATHER
CLEMENTS SETS AN EXAMPLE
Father
Clements had urged his flock for months to adopt black children.
Frustrated by their failure to respond, he finally announced from
the pulpit that he planned to adopt a child himself. Although it
had been clear from the outset that the ministers would not be
silent partners in the program, nobody had expected this level of
commitment. Just as the Chicago-area pilot program was getting
under way, the dynamic priest not only brought the issue to the
attention of his congregation, but he also attracted print, radio,
and television coverage in Chicago, around the United States, and
abroad.
Father
Clements' adoption of 13-year-old Joey, long-time resident of an
orphanage, riveted public attention on how inordinately long black
children were trapped in the foster-care system. A Chicago
Tribune editorial declared, "Rarely do human emotions, good
economics, and good sense combine so strongly in favor of quick
legislative action."
Even before
the legislation passed, Coler and Johnson began to make changes to
remove impediments to adoption by black families and to make the
adoption bureaucracy more responsive. "We went through upheavals in
the entire adoption system," Johnson recalls. "We did it through
hammering away and beating down and rewarding and punishing. Some
drastic changes were made in regulations to make it easier for
families to adopt children. To adopt children under the old
regulations you had to have a two-parent family; you had to live in
a house." Social workers who went through the houses of prospective
parents used to look into refrigerators and check under the beds,
"all those crazy things," he said.
CHANGING
A COMPLACENT BUREAUCRACY
Coler and
Johnson faced a major challenge in restructuring the adoption
service. It was one of the most deeply entrenched bureaucracies in
the DCFS. Senior workers, most of whom were white, claimed these
coveted jobs. "You worked 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. five days a week and
you knew exactly what you were going to do every day," said Janis
Forte, special assistant to Johnson and staff director of the One
Church–One Child board. "You found kids nice, neat homes, and
you gave someone a baby, and everybody loved you."