Another Broken System: How the Adoption System in the United States Is Keeping Families Apart

At its best, the adoption system brings families together and gives children a chance at a happy and healthy life; however, as it turns out, like many other systems in the United States, the adoption system is entrenched with systemic racism that may negatively impact a child’s life. In this paper, I examine the following questions: In what ways does the adoption process favor one race over the other? Who is imagined as the parent and the child in a transracial adoption? What has the public’s response been when the parent is a person of color? I first look at scholarship related to transracial adoptions and the arguments around whether transracial adoptions are beneficial for the children. I discuss some deeply rooted problems in transracial adoptions that may have a long term impact on a child’s life. I then outline my research methods, and finally, I discuss the results of my research. Ultimately, I argue that the adoption system, a system that is supposed to bring families together, is unintentionally keeping families apart with its regulations. In addition, I look into how some of the racist undertones in adoption policies have bled into what people imagine a family should look like.

Reframing Adoptee Narratives

Very public transnational, transracial adoptions by celebrities and the inclusion of transnational, transracial adoption in prime-time television sitcoms make this form of family making increasingly visible. Yet the majority of representations privilege the adoptive parent’s point of view. Drawing on two recent Korean-adoptee-created media, the Netflix documentary Twinsters (2015) and NBC Asian America’s docuseries akaSEOUL (2016), this chapter examines how adoptee-centered media converge with and diverge from traditional renderings of transnational adoption. In doing so, these media provide not only new portrayals of transnational, transracial adoptees but also new conceptions of Asian and Korean American racial, ethnic, and familial identities.

Transracial Adoption

Historically, transracial adoption has been controversial in the United States. Even with legislation supporting the adoption of children who are not the same race or ethnicity as their parents, debate has continued about the well-being and racial socialization of transracially adopted children. Transracial adoptions comprise close to half of adoptions in the United States and most frequently involve White parents raising children of color. This chapter reviews what is known from the social sciences about family dynamics and child outcomes among transracial adoptive families in the United States. It also highlights pivotal court cases in custody battles related to transracial adoption, including recent controversy surrounding the Indian Child Welfare Act (1978). An intersectionality framework is used to represent diversity among transracial adoptive families, including those with sexual minority parents and formed through different pathways (i.e., international, private domestic, public child welfare). Finally, the chapter discusses evidence-based recommendations informing relevant laws and policies.

Adoption: Transracial and Intercountry

A history of transracial and intercountry adoptions in the United States is briefly provided as well as highlights trends, demographics, practices, and policies that have evolved as families have become more diverse. The current prevalence of intercountry and transracial adoptions in the United States is examined as well as the impact of policy changes in the United States and abroad on rates of intercountry adoption. Additionally, the challenges that have emerged for children adopted transracially and from abroad, as well as for their adoptive families, are reviewed. These include navigating ethnic and racial identity formation, cultural sensitivity, and challenging behaviors. Finally, future directions for social work practice, research, and policy are explored, and implications are provided for social workers intervening with families who have adopted children transracially or internationally. Specifically, adoption-competent professionals should also integrate cultural humility and competence into their therapeutic work with adoptive children and families. Implications for research in the conclusion focus on expanding prior studies on intercountry and transracial adoptions to incorporate racial and ethnic groups underrepresented in the literature. Policy implications include increasing access and funding for post-adoption services for all adoptive families.

Microfictions and Microaggressions: Counselors’ Work With Transracial Adoptees in Schools

In the United States, transracial adoptions make up 85% of international adoptions and 40% of all domestic adoptions, and most consist of White parents and adoptees of color. This article describes transracial adoptee population trends, provides a transracial adoptee student case illustration, and outlines suggestions for school counselors working with transracial adoptees, whose unique experiences include microfictions and microaggressions (transracial, racial, and adoption-related).

Transracial adoption in England: a critical race and systems theory analysis

The legal requirements of transracial adoption of children in England changed in 2014. An amendment to the law removed a requirement that due consideration be given to the ‘child's religious persuasion, racial origin and ethnic and linguistic background’. This change was motivated by the belief that to do so would increase the number of transracial adoptions and thus decrease the number of children in care awaiting adoption. The likelihood of this change being successful is examined through a combination of critical race theory and systems theory. The combination of these theories permits an investigation into the communications between the political, legal and child welfare systems. This paper offers an enriched evaluation of the interactions of the child welfare, legal and political systems that should be of use to those who work in those systems, as well as providing a basis for understanding why this legal amendment will not achieve its objectives.