EDITORIAL ADOPTION RAINBOW A LOVING HOME OUGHT TO BE THE TOP CRITERIA FOR PLACING CHILDREN.

IN this city of incredible, effortless and mostly harmonious diversity, it seems unbelievable that some children might still be denied placement in loving homes based on the color of their skin.

Congress required adoption agencies to ignore race when placing children about a decade ago. Since then, interracial adoptions in Los Angeles County have increased appreciably, but not without some resistance.

Despite colorblind laws, some suggest that there is still opposition within the adoption community to cross-racial and cross-cultural placements. In an ideal world, all children would live with their natural-born families and grow up learning their ancestral culture and heritage. The real world, however, is anything but ideal for many children who are left orphans or removed from grim households of violence and crime. These kids would surely would prefer a stable home of any culture over nothing.

No family is perfect. But a home that is loving and stable, no matter what the cultural differences, should always trump a foster home or an institution.