Transracial Adoption

Paper Summary:

The paper examines the major concern raised by those opposing transracial adoptions, that children will not be able to form a proper identity in a conflicted racial situation. The paper examines the process of adoption and compares numerous studies of adoptees and their identities. The paper attributes the inconclusive results to problems with methodology, assumptions made by researchers that may color their research and a problem of definitions, for to say that adoptees may have an identity problem might mean that they do not have the identity that critics want them to have, rather than having a real problem themselves.

Outline:
Introduction
Adoption and the Process of Adoption
Inter-Racial Adoption

From the Paper:

"The adoption market matches potential parents and children as best it can, and the process can become more complicated when the requirements are more extensive. Agencies try to match the child with the parent to the extent possible, assuming that this is what the parents want. Prospective parents often have specific requirements of their own, which is why it becomes increasingly difficult to place children as they grow older, given that most adopting parents want infants or very young children. This also becomes a factor that may limit the choice exercised by prospective adopting parents. For those dedicated to becoming parents, the pool of children can be extended if the parents are willing to adopt older children or children from other races, but this creates a different concern. In recent years, a number of black leaders and psychologists have objected that such adoptions may be harmful to the children, not necessarily directly but in that the children are not raised and acculturated in the traditions of their ethnic group and so may develop an identity crisis."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Alexander, R. & Curtis, C..M. (1996). A Review of Empirical Research Involving the Transracial Adoption of African American Children. The Journal of Black Psychology, 22, 2, May, 223-235.
• Barth, R. (1994, September 1). Adoption research: Building blocks for the next decade. Child Welfare.
• Boudreaux, D. (1995, June 1). A modest proposal to deregulate infant adoptions. CATO Journal.
• Bradley, C. & Hawkins-Leon, C.G. (2002). The Transracial Adoption Debate: Counseling and Legal Implications. Journal of Counseling and Development, Volume 80, Issue 4, 433-440.
• Brooks, D. & James, S. (2003). Willingness to Adopt Black Foster Children: Implications for Child Welfare Policy and Recruitment of Adoptive Families. Children and Youth Services Review, 25, 5-6, May-June, 463-489.

More papers on Transracial Adoption:

• Term Paper # 4227 : "Transracial Adoption"
• Essay # 65482 : "Should Transracial Adoptions be Encouraged?"
• Term Paper # 5526 : "Interracial Adoption: Cultural Genocide"

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