Interracial Couples and Adoption

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that racial issues can be particularly difficult for the social worker to handle because skin color represents an extremely controversial issue. The author points out that interracial couples are a particular challenge for the social worker because either a black child or a white child will have one parent that is not of the same ethnicity. The paper relates that some people feel that children, placed into homes that are not homogeneous in ethnic or racial makeup and not consistent with the child's own race, can be harmful to the child; however, the paper concludes that transracial couples should be allowed to adopt because otherwise these children, who are left in non-permanent homes while awaiting the availability of same-race adoptive parents, will suffer more severe damage, such as non-attachment disorders. The paper includes several quotations.

From the Paper:

"This organization's public announcement of this stance nearly stopped all trans-racial adoptions from taking place in the next few years, and the insistence that foster homes and institutional holdings were better for Black children than being in a White household had a large impact on how children of nonwhite ethnicity would be handled in coming decades. In fact, the Child Welfare League of America revised the 1968 standards in 1973 to actually state that same-race placements for children were always better than interracial placements."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Aucaman, et al. (2006, March) Interracial Marriage. Wikipedia. Retrieved March 15, 2006, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interracial_marriage
• Bartholet, E. (1998) Adoption and Race: Articles. PACT: An Adoption Alliance. Retrieved March 15, 2006, from http://www.pactadopt.org/press/articles/adopt-race.html
• Brember, R. H. (1974) Children and Youth in America: A Documentary History, 3(1-4), 777-780. Harvard University Press. Retrieved March 15, 2006, from http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~adoption/archive/NabswTRA.htm
• Freeman, A. (1998) Raising Kids Multiculturally. Adoption and Race: Articles. PACT: An Adoption Alliance. Retrieved March 15, 2006, from http://www.pactadopt.org/press/articles/raisingkids.html
• Herman, E. (2005a) Timeline of Adoption History. Adoption History Project. Department of History, University of Oregon. Retrieved March 15, 2006, from http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~adoption/timeline.html

More papers on Interracial Couples and Adoption:

• Analytical Essay # 114980 : "Interracial Relationships in the United States."
• Term Paper # 133714 : "Amara Parenting and Adoption Services"
• Essay # 47356 : "Interracial Relationships and Marriages"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: