Reisman v. Tennessee Department Of Human Services

843 F.Supp. 356 (W.D. Tennessee, 1993)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Reismans were foster parents for a biracial child. The policy of DHS was that a child of mixed race was to be placed in a mixed race family or a black family if the heritage was black and white. Reismans filed this suit in 1990. They elected to apply as the adoptive parents of the biracial child they were foster parents of, and after they were investigated, they were permitted to adopt. As for the present suit, they filed under the Civil Rights Act 42. U.S.C. section 1983. They contend that race should not be a factor in the placement decision of biracial children or in the alternative the new parents should be required to address the child's racial, ethnic, and cultural needs. DHS denies that it discriminates against biracial children in placing them for adoption; they only use race as just one factor in many in making their determinations. The casebook then goes over the testimony of certain experts and over the factors it found related to the adoption of biracial children. It is interesting reading, but one gets the clear sense that our society is prejudiced by physical racial features of a child which by itself is not an earth-shattering conclusion or one that is to be unexpected or revolutionary.