Prospective Parents Meet Youths at Fest : Social services: Annual Black Adoption Festival brings youngsters, would-be mothers and fathers together. But for many the event is bittersweet.

By ANTHONY MILLICAN

June 21, 1992 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

Major and Esther Johnson have six grown daughters and eight grandchildren. On Saturday, the Los Angeles couple hoped to meet two boys they could adopt.

The Johnsons were among about 500 prospective parents who attended a family-style picnic in Carson with 90 African-American children who need homes. The gathering, the 13th Annual Black Adoption Festival, was sponsored by the county Department of Children’s Services.

“All my girls have grown and moved away,” Major Johnson, 63, said. “We had a great big empty house.”

Boys and girls from 9 months to 13 years old ate hot dogs, played games and listened to stories as prospective parents looked on at the festival.

But the festivities were bittersweet, because about half the children at the fair have little chance of finding parents at such events, adoption officials said.

They said many at the fair were there for the first time and just beginning to consider whether they want to adopt a child. And some who want to adopt children are found to be unsuitable during the screening process.

Adoptive parents can be married, single, divorced or widowed, must be able to provide for a child and are required to be in good health, officials said.

Although the Children’s Services Department has had greater success in recent years in placing African-American children in permanent homes, there are more than 300 black children available for adoption in Los Angeles County on a daily basis, mostly boys.

“It’s moved in the right direction,” said Peter Digre, the department’s director. “But still the reality is that we have 300 kids who need to be adopted. Over the course of the year, about 1,000 (African-American children) are put into the system.”

The Johnsons are among a growing number of black families adopting children. Last year, they adopted a 7-year-old girl and they are ready to adopt again.

“I need some boys now,” said Johnson, a retired steelworker, as he watched a group of children at an arts-and-crafts booth. “Somebody to take to basketball games. All I had were girls.”

When Deon, a precocious 13-year-old, mentioned that he wanted to leave the festival to go swimming, Johnson did not miss his cue.

“I got a pool,” Johnson said.

“You got a swimming pool? How big is it?” Deon asked, his eyes lighting up.

“About this high,” Johnson said, motioning to his waist. “You’ll like it.”

Johnson was soon quizzing a social worker about the youth.

The number of black families adopting children has risen sharply between 1989 and 1991 in Los Angeles County and statewide. Social workers attribute the increase to several factors, including the fact that the child welfare system has taken custody of a large number of children of drug-addicted parents.

Black adoptions in California rose 39%, to 622, between 1989 and 1991, according to the Department of Social Services. During the same period, Anglo adoptions statewide increased 7% and Latino adoptions were up 4.5%.

Some officials said Saturday that there is a greater emphasis on children and families in Los Angeles in the aftermath of the riots.

“These children were victimized long before the riots,” said Schuyler Sprowles, a spokesman for the Department of Children’s Services. “Many of the prospective parents and children are from the affected areas. I think part of the recovery process for all of Los Angeles is this adoption process.”

Deloris Bolton of Los Angeles has adopted a 4-year-old girl and hopes to adopt another child. She moved through the crowd of children Saturday and saw a little girl in the arms of a social worker.

“It’s a match made in heaven,” Bolton said, adding that she is familiar with the adoption process and is undaunted by the waiting period and paperwork that lies ahead.