Adoptions that are "color blind" do not adequately prepare families for what they will encounter after adopting a child of a different race, a new national study has concluded.

Instead, researchers say, steps should be taken to ensure that families in those circumstances have the training and support to raise the child through adolescence. In addition, adoption agencies should step up efforts to recruit black families.

Transracial adoption "adds another layer of development and adjustment challenges, requiring that families be prepared and supported to meet the child's needs," the study states.

The study, "Finding Families for African-American Children: The Role of Race & Law in Adoption from Foster Care," was released today by the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute in New York City.

Its findings and recommendations have been endorsed by several child welfare groups, including the North American Council on Adoptable Children and the National Association of Black Social Workers.

But one child advocate cautioned that race should not be a key factor in adoption decisions.

"Giving social workers the chance to do that produced very rigid race matching," said Elizabeth Bartholet, a professor who directs the Child Advocacy Program at Harvard Law School.

"That's one of the reasons to say race can't be used at all -- there's no other way to be sure it doesn't become the overwhelming factor."

Researchers focused on the adoption of black children by white families because of the disproportionate number of black children in foster care.

While 15 percent of American children are black, they make up 32 percent of the 510,000 children in foster care and consistently have lower rates of adoption. On average, black children stay in foster care nine months longer than white children, the study says.

Researchers looked at the different policies and approaches over the years designed to increase the numbers of adoptions for black children. One ongoing concern with transracial adoptions has been social and emotional difficulties reported by black children raised in white families, particularly families living in all-white neighborhoods.

"We can't look at transracial adoption in a vacuum. A family needs to understand what that means," said Jacqueline Wilson, executive director of the Three Rivers Adoption Council in Pittsburgh.

The council, which is revamping the training it provides for families, has handled about 50 adoptions since July 1 with perhaps two or three involving transracial adoption.

However few the number, "that child has to be celebrated, even if it's just one kid," Ms. Wilson said. "His heritage, his culture and his race all have to be celebrated."

The Donaldson study offers a few personal stories that illustrate the struggles adoptees face.

One black adoptee, quoted in a 2003 study, said he would feel more comfortable in a different neighborhood. "People wouldn't ask so many questions or call me names. I feel a little more comfortable around people who are my color because I know they won't call me names."

Another said growing up in a white neighborhood "was painful because while I perceived racism all around me, I didn't have people around me to talk to who had experienced what I was experiencing, and who could therefore validate and share my perceptions."

Adoption groups have struggled with balancing the need to find families for black children in foster care with the desire to place them in a setting that reflects their racial heritage.

Federal laws, like the Multiethnic Placement Act of 1994, were implemented to prevent race from being the determining factor in adoptions, Ms. Wilson said. "MEPA says, 'Don't let a child languish in the system if there's a family that's willing to accept them in their home.'

"It can make the difference between one day [in foster care] and two years."

But once a transracial adoption is final, she added, the family must be prepared to understand broad cultural and racial issues they will face, as well as deal with daily issues like skin care and where to get a haircut.

"When we try to make the system color blind, we can become color blind to true differences."