Trans-Racial Adoption Research Paper

Adoption is the action or fact of being adopted. International adoption is a type of adoption in which an individual or couple becomes the legal and permanent parent(s) of a child who is a native of a different country. The United States has the most domestic and international adoptions each year. Most adoptions to the United States come from China, Ethiopia, and Ukraine (Top 3 Countries). International adoption, especially through Afghanistan, is a long and complicated process.

American couples sometimes want to expand their families. One way to do that is to adopt a child. Then they have a choice of adopting domestically or internationally. There are both advantages and disadvantages to adopting from outside one's country. Author Mary Strickert explained these in her article titled "Children's Best Interests," published in The New York Times in 2012. Prospective parents should consider many factors before they decide, and there are many children here in the United States who need parents and a loving home. Therefore, American adults should not continue to adopt from Third World countries.

Interracial adoption has been a controversial issue for decades now. Segregation plays a big aspect when thinking about how problems with this concept started being portrayed. People believe that when you start to associate different races in a family, the racial identity of the children can start to diminish. However, it is understood that a transracially placed child, and a biracial child in particular, is in the best position to see the commonality between their race and their adoptive race and the barriers to communication, respect, and understanding between the two (Forde-Mazrui). If they are old enough to have been a part of and experienced life in their culture, they will be able to make connections between the two races. On the other hand, this all depends

Transracial adoption is known as the act of placing a child of one race or culture with adoptive parents of a different race or culture. This practice is also known as interracial adoption. Typically, this involves White parents adopting children of color. This practice has taken place domestically in the United States since the 1950s, due to a decrease in the amount of White children available for adoption. Around the same time international adoptions also became more common, due to the magnitude of children left as orphans after World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. Recent statistics demonstrate the rise in domestic and international transracial adoption, with domestic transracial adoption increasing from around 1,000 in

In this study, researchers conducted a series of interviews to explore the impact of transracial adoption (Barn, R., 2013). Two main aspects of ethnicity were cultural competence and racial competence. Cultural competence is the basic understanding of cultural values, along with identity found in one specific group. Racial competence is the development of ways to react to prejudices or any other form of discrimination. They specifically examined whether transracial children lose a sense of cultural and racial competence when adopted by white parents.

My first reason is that children from interracial adoptions can keep their heritage by incorporating it in their everyday life. When children are adopted by parents of another race, it can be difficult to stay true to their heritage. If they tie it into their everyday life, they can learn about their family roots and how their life may have been. One way heritage could be involved is by learning their native language.

The United States has adopted indefinitely more children internationally than any other country. In 2008, there were 17,456 children adopted internationally by American parents (Statistics 1). Supposing that domestic adoption was prioritized over international adoption, those 17,456 children would have been adopted domestically. If these parents would have chose to adopt domestically, the United States foster system population would drastically drop over 17,000 because those children would have a loving home.

I will be exploring the sociological affects of interracial adoptions. One theory I will be applying to this topic is the double consciousness theory. Consciousness theory explains how we have different identities and how they may conflict with each other. An example of this would be when people point out that you are not the same race as your family. If you are adopted by a white couple , part of you believes that you are white . Your identity shifts when others outside the family mentions you are something else. Ideal Types is another theory I will be applying as well. In an ideal family the members are suppose to favor . For instance my Father and Mother were both blondes at one time ( my mother still is ) . My father has blue eyes and

Why would anyone care if a child is adopted from another country? Does the care of adopted children from another country really matter? Since the last couple of decades, couples have been able to adopt children from other countries including the United States. Ethnic adoption can ruin a child’s life. It can ruin a child’s life just because love is not enough. There are many factors that need to be emphasized in regards to ethnic adoption. The factors include: the child becoming culturally deprived, the child having weaker family bonds, and that there are other children in America that need

In public adoption, families opting to have their older children adopted place applications to publicly funded children welfare agencies. The agencies assume responsibilities of the child until they get placed to other adopting parents. In private adoption, a child is put in a non-relative home through an organization, birthparent, clergy, or an attorney. In transracial adoption, the adoptive family and the child being adopted are of different races. The public child welfare system oversees the adoption of a child in interracial adoption. In intra-national adoption, both the child being adopted and the adopting family comes from the same nation. On the other hand, international adoption sees a kid be adopted being placed to an adopting family of a different

Some people believe that love is not enough when it comes to adopting a child. The only fact that should be taken into consideration is what is best for the child. However, there are some researchers who believe that the children culture should be taken into consideration. Growing up in a culturally diverse home that offers children books, music and artwork that represent the child's race will create an identity for the child that is positive and that will also seek to expand racial awareness for the entire family. When a child has created an identity for herself by being taught about where she comes from, it opens her up to be accepting of different ethnic backgrounds and races. This is how the child can become open to learning about other ethnic backgrounds and cultures (Beamer, 1974). This is statement made by the adoption researchers after trying to decide what is best for a child to stay in foster care or allow them to adopted transracially. The outcomes in most cases are positive because the child grows up with a diverse mind set they will able to mend a blend with more than one group of people. This also shows that love and support will better raise a child than race. Society says do not allow transracial adopting because the child will lose sense of who they are, but people who have been transracially adopted believe this was the best thing that could have happened to

The image of an American family changed dramatically over the last fifty years. American families are no longer modeled after the Cleavers. International adoption has contributed to this changing family view, bringing in children who are not biologically related to their parents and often of a different race. This new American image has helped to reduce race related issues. Children are the future of a country. If a country is losing their children to international adoption; the county is losing the gifts and talents that are irreplaceable in those children. Intercountry adoption should not be a viable adoption source because this process does not adequately benefit those involved, international adoption exploits poor children and hurts their countries of origin.

Against the amounts of credible evidence, throughout all the headlines in International Adoption: A Sociological Account of the US Experience, never once was there a counter argument on how domestic adoption compares to the topic of international adoption. For further support of their topic, a counter argument would best fit in the headline “Attitudes towards US adoptions and their impact on adoption policies.” In this section, it reveals the polices from other countries such as Korean government reducing the number of adoptions to US parents. With circumstances from other countries, a statement on domestic adoption and the US laws would counteract with the situation. For example, in International Adoption, written by Christina Frank, writes

At times families wish to adopt from the country of the family’s own ethnic origin, or they may be familiar with others who have successfully adopted overseas. The research also suggests that the major reason families choose to adopt international is the manner in which most international adoptions are conducted; a process that minimizes the threat that a child could be offered to potential parents and then withdrawn. International birth parents transfer their parental rights to a third-party adoption agency or orphanage before the adoptive parents get involved in the process. This may not be the case with domestic adoptions, mainly when a child is expected, but not yet born. Birth parents may change their minds about adopting out their child during the period before the adoption is finalized (Fain, n.d., http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Pros-And-Cons-Of-International-Adoption&id=533106).

Transracial adoption which speaks of black children merged with white families and vice versa could be a great step towards reducing the overly increasing number of orphans. The total of international transracial adoptions have risen significantly from 7,000 in 1990 to almost 22,800 in 2006, but there was a slight decrease in 2008 to 17,000 adoptions (Lindsey 2012). It is a useful way to break down barriers of racism between people, by enriching awareness of transracial adoption. In addition, adoption is tracked down in the bible, where it was mentioned that the Pharaoh’s wife adopted Moses.