1.   Inpart it was a response to the needs of childless white couples for whom white infants were no longer available for adoption.

2.   And they badly want a white infant.

3.   Healthy white infants, social workers knew, could be worth a small fortune in the black-market adoption trade.

4.   -- Black infants are twice as likely to die in the first year of life as white infants.

5.   Black babies are twice as likely as white infants to be born prematurely, but the gap is narrowing, the government reported Thursday.

6.   Black infants in major U.S. cities are up to five times more likely than white infants to die in their first year of life, the government reported Thursday.