A top adoption advocate is calling out Pete Buttigieg for spreading what he says are damaging myths about race and adoption.
Buttigieg claimed on a podcast that adopting white children requires a “deposit on a fetus,” while adopting Black children comes with a discount. He also said parents requesting white children are placed on “a different list.”
National Council for Adoption President Ryan Hanlon blasted the remarks in an op-ed for The Hill, calling them “ignorant” and a distortion of how private adoptions work. “When media narratives confuse or conflate key facts, the real harm falls on children and families,” Hanlon said.
He emphasized that in private domestic adoptions, birth parents — not agencies — choose adoptive families. Most also remain in contact through open adoptions. According to Hanlon, fewer than one-third of birth mothers consider race a major factor when choosing adoptive parents.
Hanlon pushed back on the idea that agencies lower fees based on a child’s race. “No credible agency bases its fees on the race of a child,” he said. “To suggest otherwise is to malign the ethical professionals” working in adoption.
Buttigieg made his comments while discussing parenting and race on the podcast “Flagrant.” His remarks triggered swift backlash online. Hanlon said the framing turns a life-altering decision into “fodder for political point-scoring.”
He also warned against “culture-war shorthand” that confuses the public and oversimplifies complex issues. Only about 25,000 private infant adoptions occur annually in the U.S., far fewer than the number of parents open to adopting children of any background.
Hanlon admitted the industry has problems, including oversight gaps. But he insisted reform must come from facts — not from misinformation about race and adoption fees.