Birth Culture Summary

I could never have my father’s smile or my mother’s eyes, and my skin tone will never match theirs. Their Swedish and Irish blood cannot be traced in my veins. I am a Chinese-American raised in a caucasian household. Neither I, nor my siblings are related by blood. Growing up in this unique household has given me a life and future that I would never have, if I wasn’t adopted. My family’s loving spirit influenced my positive attitude towards acceptance. When I traveled back to China to adopt my younger sister, I saw the world from a different perspective. Traveling back to my birth country shaped me to become the person I am today by equipping me with experiences that helped me become open-minded.

Ever wonder what adoption is like? There are many opinions about how people should view adoption and how they view it themselves. This is an ethical issue because many people view this differently according to their race, religion, family and even society can influence the way you view how adoption is too a person, There are two sides with ethical issues so in this paper, I will show you both sides of adoption.

Many critics of Transracial adoption debate that white families are not capable to benefit black children develop a black identity role. Because white people do not know the feeling of having been discriminated or criticized among black children. So the author feels that white people cannot

‘People are realizing that closed adoptions do more harm than good, because adoptees tend to imagine one of two extremes about their birth parents — they’re either famous, exotic royalty or celebrities, or they’re villains with loose morals’.

Where we come from is a huge issue. Just as scientists debate the origin of man and the universe, adopted children can have questions about their genetic roots. Questions like: “Why do I look like this?”, “Why do I have these health problems?”, and “Why do I have these emotional issues?” go unanswered if biological parents are never known. In a study of adoptive families, parents were asked how they felt years after their open adoptions. One

Many children in the United States and throughout the world have been orphaned, put under foster care, or had something similar happen that results in the child being alone, in a sense. These children will often be entered into an adoption agency. All the children on the records of these adoption agencies have something in common no matter what race or religion they are a part of; they all need a home and a family. Through adoption any person of any race can provide a child of a different ethnicity or of the same ethnicity as himself or herself, so long as he or she qualifies; however, the ethnicity of a child in comparison to his or her adoptive parent or parents may affect the ability of the

Perhaps the main concern for transracial adoptees concerning their racial situation involves their sense of identity, divided between racial and personal (Deberry 2377). One study worth mention concerning racial identity used the Clark and Clark Doll Test, which features two dolls with dark and light skin, and found only a seven percent difference between the black identification of transracial black adoptees to inracial black adoptees (Morrison 182). Regarding personal identities, outcome studies suggest that TRAs are not necessarily more prone than same-race adoptees or nonadoptees to emotional or behavioral problems, low self-esteem, or maladjustments (Lee 4). During a twenty year follow-up on Chinese children adopted transracially to Britain, the researchers concluded that adoptees and nonadoptees developed self-esteem and social adjustment on the same level (Lee 4). A study in 1977 that interviewed transracially adopting parents throughout the United States found their black children emotionally healthy (Morrison 181). A second concern for the psychological and social effects of TRA considers whether a transracially adopted child adjusts well into a racially different environment. According to a 1983 study, racial differences do not inhibit transracial adoptees from developing typical relationships any less than inracial adoptees (Morrison 182). Furthermore, racial differences may strengthen the parent-child relationship, as it “reinforces that the family’s foundation is based on bonds of relationship, not…biology” (Morrison 188). Studies have indicated the healthy racial identities, the healthy personal identities, and the relationship enabling of racial differences as proof of psychological and social benefits of transracial

The adoptive family may ignore or make little effort to incorporate into the family the cultural heritage of the adopted child (Adamec,136). This decision to leave the culture behind, outside the family, does not suggest that the child is neither accepted nor loved or cherished as their own. However, when the adoptive family also adopts and embraces the cultural identity of the child's birth culture, it enriches not only the adopted child but also the entire family and extended family as well. Another factor is attachment is the child’s age when they were adopted. The older the child when adopted, the risk of social maladjustment was found to be higher (Simon, 188). Most children when adopted at younger ages have a better chance to adjustment normally, than children adopted over the age of ten. An infant learns to trust quicker, than a ten-year old child does, but all of this depends on each case. Developmental theorist Eric Erikson, discusses trust issues in his theory of development. Erikson's first stage of development is “Trust versus Mistrust”, which states “if needs are dependably met, infants develop a sense of basic trust” (Myers, 149). For an adopted child, placing the child early in a key ingredient to successful attachment of child to parent and vice versa (Cox, 1). Such an attachment, which is strong among the majority of families throughout the paper, is an important

Because America is such a diverse country, there are many differences between cultures of various immigrant groups. Members of each culture, have their own beliefs and values regarding what they think is right. The cultural diversity allows for each person to have a different view of things. Amy Chua’s essay “Why Chinese Mothers are Superior,” she describes her way of parenting her two daughters following Chinese values about education. She explains how Western parents are much more lenient than Chinese parents with their children and education. Chua gives examples of how she raised her daughter Lulu and Sophia which lead them to achieve success. She makes comparisons between Western and Chinese parenting styles throughout the essay and concludes that both types of parents want the best for their children, but just approach parenting it in different ways. In the article, “Chinese vs Western Mothers: Q&A with Amy Chua,” Amy Chua is interviewed by Belinda Luscombe where she clarifies how her Chinese method of parenting did not hurt her children the way many readers thought it did. Chua explains that her relationship with her two daughters is very strong and believes there are many effective ways of parenting in addition to the Chinese approach. Chua’s essay shows the Chinese immigrant approach to parenting and gives insight into why so many children of Chinese parents are so successful. Discussing the cultural differences shows the risk of stereotyping groups where feelings

Adoption remained for a long time a rather homogeneous action, with the placement of children in the homes of middle-class, married couples. Over the course of the last three decades, adoption went through a metamorphosis, from being merely a source for married, middle-class couples to create families to being a pathway for a number of diverse and

While there have been significant studies to provide a portrait relating to how adoptees adapt to their families, (L. Hamilton, Cheng, & Powell, 2007; Hellerstedt 2008), there remains major unanswered

It has been said that adopting one child won’t change the world, but for that one child, the world will change. Regardless of how a child becomes a part of a loving family, this child will forever be grateful and considered lucky. It can sometimes be problematic for a child growing up in a family where there are racial differences; however, for a family who are determined to create an enriched environment those problems can be overcome. The idea of interracial adoption seems less futile given the fact that we as humans are capable of loving beyond appearances. As a society, there should be a push to embrace humanity instead of being hung up on racial differences. As mentioned before, there are some challenges behind every story; therefore, subsequently the pros, cons, pitfalls, and misunderstandings of what adopting an interracial child can bring to their upbringing will be discussed.

Environments we occupy, experiences, or even simple events that are but a speck in the length of life are catalysts in the process of defining who we are, what we are, and how we are. The correlation between an individual’s character, views, and attributes that label them as such, are always derived from the past, the past’s past, and before that as well. This is me, for whom the individual is, is molded through the life’s course they have so benevolently experienced. I am what my adoption has made me, what my home life has given me, and what my social life has taken from me; the importance of these experiences can be of scrutiny from a third-party. Perspective of another individual, however, has never meant much to me to begin

In their 2007 study, van Londen et al. (2007) examined attachment patterns in post-institutionalized adoptees from China, Taiwan, South Korea, Colombia, and Ethiopia to determine if post-institutionalized adoptee populations experience higher rates of insecure and/or disorganized attachment than non-adoptee (NA) groups. To assess attachment in post-institutionalized adoptees, van Londen et al. (2007) recruited 70 adoptees from the aforementioned nations and their adoptive families via collaboration with three Dutch adoption agencies. Only traditional two-parent families for whom the adopted infant was their first child were accepted into the study (van Londen et al., 2007). Further, all adoptees must have been placed with their adoptive families prior to 12 months of age and must have lived with their adoptive families for a minimum of four months prior to participation in the study (van Londen et al., 2007).

The establishment of the one-child policy in China dramatically affected the country’s family dynamics by preventing millions of births and creating single-child homes (DeLauche). As a result of the controversial policy, orphanages began filling with Chinese children, predominately girls, for adoption in order to uphold the new legislation of one child per family. Because of this sole decision of the People’s Republic of China, my childhood consisted of two cultures: Chinese and American. For, as an infant, I was adopted by a single mom in America.