Adoption and Foster Care in The Wire (Spoilers for Season 4 Finale below)

This season may have been the best yet. I loved the focus on the school system and the introduction of the close-knit group of junior high school boys, Namond, Duquan, Michael and Randy. I'm crossing my fingers and hoping that the next season of The Wire is going to focus more on foster care. Last night's season finale touched on foster care and adoption in several ways.

- Although Wee-Bey had wanted his 14-year-old son Namond to follow a likely short-lived career in drug-dealing, he finally changes his mind and gives up parental rights from prison to allow Namond to be adopted or fostered or "guardian"ed (it's not clear which) by ex-police major Bunny Colvin. Wee-Bey was a terrifying psychopath in Season 1, but it turns out he's capable of doing at least one thing right.

- Sgt. Carver tries to get Randy into another foster home. His beloved foster mother Miss Anna had been sent to the hospital by enforcers trying to kill Randy for talking to the police about the rowhouse murders. The attack on Miss Anna should have been prevented by Carver but wasn't. Unfortunately there is no foster home to take him right away. Carver breaks down and offers to foster Randy himself, but social services says he'd have to go through screening for at least three months. Randy ends up going to a group home, where the older boys savagely beat him for having a snitch reputation.

None of my favorite characters dies. Bodie is a great character, but I never forgave him for killing Wallace in Season 1, and his death seems like a inevitable natural consequence of the life he chose.

I also think it's great to see black parents adopting or taking in black children on such a major TV show. Mentions of foster care adoption in the media often turn so quickly to transracial adoption and discussions about white parents adopting black children. It's an important topic, but it's also such a hot topic I feel like it sometimes obscures the fact that there are many, many black adoptive parents out there who are adopting from the system. They're also dealing with problems, issues and social pressures while trying to do the right thing for their children.