One Church One Child, established as a national minority
adoption recruitment program, was founded in 1980 by Father George Clements in the state of Illinois. One Church One Child was born out of Illinois’ adoption crisis
in the 1970s - a disproportionate number of African American children available for adoption lingering in the foster care
system. In 1979, 70% of children waiting to be adopted in Chicago were
African American out of a child population of 26% African American. What became evident
was that this type of disproportionality was nationwide.
Historically, the church has provided leadership in the African American
community. As such, the state of Illinois recognized that a possible solution
to moving African American children to permanency lay in forming a relationship between the state and the African American
churches. As a Catholic pastor of one of the largest predominantly African
American churches in Chicago and colleague with fellow Baptist and Methodist activist pastors in Chicago’s African
American communities, Father Clements was identified as a key individual to bridge the existing gap between the state and
the African American community. In working with Father Clements an alliance was formed between church and
state which brought together African American ministers, adoptive parents and the Department of Children and Family Services. The efforts “to find one family
in every one African American church in Illinois to adopt one child” was coined by Father Clements
as One Church, One Child.
The efforts of One Church
One Child in Chicago were successful and quickly moved masses of African American children from foster care into
permanent adoptive families and homes.
As a result of the vision of men like Gregory Coler, Father Clements, John
Casey, and Gordon Johnson, One Church, One Child was well on the way to becoming a vanguard in African American
adoption. The dreams of these first advocates have helped implement One
Church One Child programs across the nation for foster care and adoption recruitment and support for African
American children.
In 1988 the states of New York, Illinois and Florida worked with Father Clements to form National
One Church One Child. Soon after more than 35 states became involved in this national organization. This national organization sets goals in which each member state must follow. Listed below are the original goals of National One Church One Child:
· To facilitate a national appeal to recruit African American adoptive and
foster families for African American children.
· To provide a national approach to reduce the length of stay of African American
children in foster care who are available for adoption.
· To develop a
national education campaign to raise the nation’s awareness of the disproportionate representation of African American
children in foster care.
· To secure a
national mandate which provides adequate permanent funding for the national office.
· To establish a national clearinghouse to document the number of African American
children placed for adoption and those still available for adoption.
· To develop a national consortium for the provision of training and technical
assistance.
· To develop a national resource lending library.
· To develop a national corporate public/private sponsorship division.
Over time, changes have occurred
in the states including financial support, upsizing, downsizing, and additional projects/programs. However, the societal problems which necessitated the establishment of One Church One Child
programs and the development of National One Church One Child continue to exist.
Unfortunately the reality of society’s problems impacting
the lives of children, the disparities and the disproportionality of African American children in foster care waiting to be
adopted are foundational reasons for National One Church One Child to continue to operate. Therefore the vision and mission of National One Church One Child remains the same, that
of ensuring permanency for African American children.
