Transracial Adoption Among Asian Youth: Transitioning Through an Integrative Identity

International and transracial adoptions have been practiced by multiple developed countries since World War II, where transracial adoptees are removed from their country of origin and raised by parents of a completely different cultural and racial background. In the United States, adoption was institutionalized after the Korean War, making adoption across races a common practice. This demographic change brings different developmental challenges to the transracial adoptee, including the task of racial and ethnic identity. In this dissertation study, the authors dived into the narratives of six Colombian transracial adoptees raised in the United States by White parents to understand their stories regarding their racial and ethnic identity process. The authors’ findings include the development of a racial and ethnic identity model that emerged from the participants’ themes and common lived experiences, including five nonlinear stages: questioning and curiosity; action-seeking behaviors; judgment and expectations; reculturation and reclaiming; and wanting to embrace both identities. Adult Colombian adoptees highlighted the fluidity of their racial and ethnic identity process and the importance of reclaiming and reconnecting with their Colombian part of self as part of this process. The ethnic and racial identity model informs mental health professionals’ clinical and professional practice by offering a guide to comprehending the process and some of the common experiences around ethnic and racial identity among transracial adoptees.

INTRODUCTION: Cross-cultural and transracial adoption or fostering is a common experience in adoptive and foster family formation yet few adoptive or foster parents are truly competent to address the cultural needs of children who join their families in this way. Few parents comprehend the full extent of cultural and, or, racial identity knowledge that their newly adopted children bring with them. Parents also struggle to answer the cultural, and, or, racial identity questions that their adopted children ask them. Likewise, human service professionals, when helping families, sometimes struggle to provide culturally competent knowledge and training.METHODS: A review of literature nationally and internationally to ascertain best practice models and strategies to help families and professionals move beyond colour-blind approaches and meet the cultural needs of adopted or fostered children.FINDINGS: There are useful models of cultural and bicultural competency that parents and human service professionals can use to enable improved support for families formed through transracial and cross-cultural adoption and fostering.CONCLUSIONS: A colour-blind approach to cross-cultural or transracial parenting is unlikely to help children view their ethnic background and heritage positively. Rather, a culturally competent approach will help children develop positive racial and cultural identities.

Growing up with systemic racism in the USA

Transracial adoption (TRA) has a long history of controversy centering around the question of whether White families, regardless of how well-intentioned, can prepare children of color to navigate a racist society. Religiously embedded messages of “we’re all God’s children” can unintentionally promote a “color blindness” that further exacerbates this inability to equip children of color. In this chapter, I will briefly review the history and contradictory research on TRA that has further polarized the debate about the long-term impact of placing children of color in White homes. Through case examples, I will introduce the complicated journey of adoption stories, involving birth families, foster and/or adoptive families, social workers, and other helpers. Interventions will focus on how to (1) counter destructive societal discourses on race, religion, and power; (2) increase parental cultural, spiritual, and racial competence; and (3) support racial, cultural, and spiritual identity development. The goal is to give therapists collaborative tools to recognize and expand upon the hidden strengths and resiliencies intertwined in adoption journeys.

Social media use has become increasingly enmeshed in the lives of youth. Although investigations in this area have tended to focus on risk (e.g., cyberbullying) and negative outcomes (e.g., in mental health and academic functioning), a growing body of literature suggests there may be positive developmental outcomes associated with Black youths' social media use. Social media may offer Black youth a means of resisting negative experiences, expand their opportunities to create and explore, and facilitate the integration of their racial and STEM identities. Aligned with PYD perspectives and PVEST, we suggest this dynamic process occurs iteratively within youth and bidirectionally between youth and their environment (online and offline) over the course of development. In this article, we present a conceptual model to guide future investigations to address gaps in the literature and elucidate the linkages between social media use, racial identity, and STEM identity among Black youth. We begin by reviewing two frameworks that provide the theoretical foundations for our model. We then discuss our outcomes of interest: racial identity and STEM identity. Given its rapidly evolving nature, we then proceed with a discussion about how social media may be operationalized, noting limitations in the current literature and highlighting the unique ways in which social media differs from offline contexts. Subsequently, we present our conceptual model, which we situate within distal, proximal, and individual offline influences. We also propose processes that may link social media use to positive identity outcomes. We conclude this article with recommendations for future investigations.

The Experience and Understanding of Racial Difference in Families Among Adults of Color Adopted by White Parents Rebecca M. Redington The notion of normality in families is socially constructed. In fact, so-called traditional families represent only 3% of households in the United States. The presence of dissimilarity in families has given rise to a deficit model, where families constructed outside of the norm are recognized as vulnerable to problems and likely candidates for intervention. At the same time, mental health practitioners indicate feeling unequipped to address the concerns of these families. Rather than assume nontraditional families are destined for maladaptive outcomes, research must investigate how family members address differences to produce strong, high functioning families. As such, the purpose of this qualitative investigation was to a) identify what transracially adopted individuals think and feel about their own race and the race of their parents/other adoptive family members, b) understand how racial differences are addressed in families formed through transracial adoption, and c) elucidate how transracially adopted individuals are affected (in childhood and adulthood) by ways in which their parents address or do not address issues of race with them. Data was collected through 13 semi-structured interviews with adults of color who were transracially adopted by White parents. Participant narratives were transcribed and then analyzed using Consensual Qualitative Research (CQR). Results illustrate the complexity of identity formation and parent/child relationships in the lives of transracial adoptees. Racial messages received from family members and communities are identified, including themes of colorblindness, racial discrimination, and having no sense of belonging. Participants described various ways in which they dealt with race-related messages on their own, through methods of isolation and avoidance. They also discussed negative emotional responses to race-related encounters, such as confusion, anger, and anxiety. Participants’ experiences of their own racial identity, as well as their relationship to their birth race and culture, are described. Suggestions for prospective White transracial adoptive parents are made, including the importance of incorporating adoptees’ birth race and culture within family life. Finally, implications for mental health practitioners working with transracial adoptive families, limitations, and suggestions for future research are provided.

More than 35 years ago the National Association of Black Social Workers (NABSW) formally declared its opposition to transracial adoption (TRA), particularly the adoption of black children by white families. While the controversy reached a fever pitch in 1972 with the NABSW position paper, the debate surrounding transracial adoption has waned over the past decade. The controversy has been recently re-ignited, however, due to high profile transracial adoptions by celebrities and other public figures including Sandra Bullock, Angelina Jolie, and Madonna. The transracial adoption controversy of the 1970s and today typically focuses on concerns that white families, no matter how well intentioned, may be ill-equipped to help black children survive in a racist society and develop a healthy sense of themselves and racial identity (Grow and Shapiro, 1974b; McRoy and Zurcher, 1983; Simon and Alstein, 2002). Critiques are often based on assumptions about the identity of black children raised by their biological parents, yet there is little focus placed on black children raised in black homes who may or may not also struggle with racial identity development. Moreover, while the race of parents in relation to children is at the center of the transracial adoption debate, studies rarely delve into socialization practices of biracial families headed by one white and one black parent.

Symbolic interactionism is useful for examining how various socialization contexts (e.g., family and media) inform adolescents' identity construction and role making. Some research supports the theory's application in understanding White adolescents' racial socialization and identity development. The theory has yet to be applied to understanding the critical components that are essential for understanding how individuals interact with a digital society where racial inequality is pervasive. We propose a model of White adolescents' racial identity in response to racial socialization, and how that relationship manifests in social media contexts. We discuss how racial and social media literacies interact with family socialization and identity‐related experiences to promote White adolescents' critical race consciousness and introduce a novel application of digital critical racial literacy and digital anti‐racist action. The model advances symbolic interactionism by incorporating a critical lens, and can inform interventions aimed to educate parents, White youth, and social‐media developers on anti‐racist development.

Tackling a provocative subject, Rachel F. Mo-ran explores the role antimiscegenation laws played in defining normative family relationships throughout American history. She traces social and legal challenges to antimiscegena-tion laws and their lingering effects on current definitions of family, racial identity, and social policy. Moran's analysis revolves around how racial identity structures beliefs about intimate relationships. According to Moran, these laws asserted the superiority of white familial norms and pathologized interracial intimacy, encouraging what she terms “separate but equal” families. Moran moves beyond black-white polarities, examining how and why attitudes about racial mixing affected Hispanics, Asian Americans, and Native Americans differently. She convincingly establishes the connection between past prohibitions on interracial relationships and current controversies over social policy, such as continued low rates of interracial marriage, controversy over trans-racial adoptions, and the debate over the utility of multiracial categories. For historians, however, much of Moran's discussion is well-tilled ground. She bases her conclusions on familiar case law and a limited reading of the existing historiography, failing to incorporate the more recent and nuanced analyses of race mixing and racial identity by Peggy Pascoe, Neil Foley, Kathleen Brown, Grace Hale, and others. Consequently, her recitation of legal restrictions on interracial intimacy is simplistic and occasionally troubling. At times, Moran ignores black agency. For example, she implies that the lack of stable families under slavery reflected slaves' lax moral code rather than owners' willingness to disrupt family relationships. She then attributes Reconstruction-era efforts to create monogamous black families solely to the Freedmen's Bureau and to black elites' efforts to “educate” lower-class blacks about the benefits of marriage. She disregards the well-documented, widespread, and spontaneous efforts of freed blacks to solemnize marriages and reunite families. At other times, Moran is only partially accurate. She suggests the one-drop rule was adopted in the upper South as early as the late eighteenth century, followed by the lower South in the mid-1850s. Yet legal definitions of racial identity fluctuated throughout the mid-nineteenth and the early twentieth centuries. Indeed, Virginia did not codify the one-drop rule in law until 1924. These problems compromise her analysis.

In response to the need for increased understanding of the identity process of transracial adoptees, the Cultural-Racial Identity Model (A. L. Baden & R. J. Steward, 1995) was developed; however, the model has yet to be empirically validated. The model allows distinctions to be made between racial identity and cultural identity, resulting in 16 proposed identities. Identities are based on the degrees to which individuals (1) have knowledge of, awareness of, competence within, and con1fort with their own racial group’s culture, their parents’ racial group’s culture, and multiple cultures, and (2) are comfortable with their racial group membership and with those belonging to their own racial group, theirparents’ racial group, and multiple racial groups. Four dimensions of the model were determinedfor study: the Adoptee Culture Dimension, the Parental Culture Dimension, the Adoptee Race Dimension, and the Parental Race Dimension. In this study, the Cultural-Racial Identity oftransracial adoptees was assessed by a modified version ofthe Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure (MEIM; J. S. Phinney, 1992). Psychological adjustment was assessed by the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI; L. R. Derogatis & P. A. Cleary, 1977). The sample consisted of 51 transracial adoptees who completed mail survey questionnaires. The exploratory findings supported the Cultural-Racial Identity Model by demonstrating that the modified version of the MEIM successfully yielded variation in the potential CulturalRacial Identities that the transracial adoptees reported. Findings also did not yield support for differences in psychological adjustment among transracial adoptees

From the 1950s through 2024, transracial adoptions—particularly of Korean and Chinese children—have been increasingly prevalent in Western societies. While these adoptions provided children with opportunities to grow up in loving and supportive families, they also introduced unique challenges related to identity, cultural integration, and self-esteem. This basic qualitative study aimed to explore the lived experiences of Chinese and Korean transracial adoptees (TRAs) within their adoptive families, in their interactions with counseling, and their perceptions of the effectiveness of counseling interventions. The study was grounded in Relational-Cultural Theory (RCT) and the Openness to Communication framework to examine the experiences of 19 Chinese and Korean TRAs. Data were collected through qualitative surveys and analyzed through a modified version of Braun and Clark’s thematic coding to identify and interpret broad insights from recurring patterns and themes from the participants. The emerging themes reflected participants’ lived experiences, including their engagement with counseling during childhood and adulthood. Findings underscored the need for specialized therapeutic approaches that address the racial and cultural identity development of TRAs adopted into Caucasian families. By recognizing the significance of these factors and implementing culturally responsive counseling practices, mental health professionals can play a crucial role in fostering the psychological and emotional well-being of TRAs.

Transracial/transcultural adoption is defined as a child of one race or ethnic group placed with parent(s) of a different race or ethnic group. An estimated 2 million children in the United States were identified as adopted in the 2010 census, and approximately one-fourth of these were transracial adoptions. Both a history of adoption and a strong ethnic or racial identity are specifically associated with health-related risk and protective factors for psychosocial, academic, and health behavior outcomes. A patient with a history of transracial adoption presents unique and important considerations for culturally responsive nursing care. This article begins with nursing practice considerations for transracially adoptive patients and provides an overview of epidemiology; relevant trauma informed nursing care; laws and racial identity formation, and a mental model of health disparities to guide future directions. We synthesize information relevant to nursing care of individuals who are transracially adopted and racial/ethnic identity formation, including socialization and a merging model to conceptualize identities. The article also discusses principles of trauma informed care and health disparities and future improvements in the context of this population.

Reviewed by: Babies Without Borders: Adoption and Migration Across the Americas Leslie J. Reagan Dubinsky, Karen – Babies Without Borders: Adoption and Migration Across the Americas. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2010. Pp. 199. Although very few people are themselves involved in adoption—no more than an estimated 4% in the U.S.—adoption regularly hits the newspapers and stirs national passions, and has for more than a century. Why this is so and how the adopted child has become a symbolic child around the world since World War II is the subject of Karen Dubinsky’s excellent book, Babies Without Borders: Adoption and Migration Across the Americas. This is a great book that historians of foreign relations, family, the United States, Canada, and Latin America, along with those interested in adoption, should read and assign. Others before her have investigated institutions, secrecy, and legal statutes; Dubinsky focuses on the way that adoption works symbolically and politically in the world. Understanding adoption as either good or evil, as either an act of rescue or kidnapping, she argues, is too simple and unhelpful to adopted children and especially to birthparents who become invisible. Babies Without Borders also analyzes the workings of race and racism in adoption and employs a transnational perspective to illuminate the global circulation of babies and varying interpretations of adoption and racial identification. Through a combined analysis of transnational practices and very local and intimate events, Dubinsky argues that child adoptions and the narratives told about these processes are not incidental, “but centra[l] to state building projects (55).” Dubinsky analyzes the adoptions that receive the most attention and raise controversy— international adoptions (generally from the global South or East to the West) and transracial adoptions (from black, brown, and indigenous families to white parents). The children in these controversies are always silent and serve as a symbol for other national controversies, battles, and traumas. Because children cannot speak for themselves, adoption narratives portray them as innocents who need protection. Cross-cultural and transracial adoptions are either understood as rescue by well-off white Americans and Canadians who adopt babies, or as kidnapping by communities of color and the nations who “give” children to wealthier nations and parents. The book begins with “the national child” and the 1960 rescue of Cuban children in “Operation Peter Pan.” Cuban parents sent children to the United States in order to save them from Castro’s revolution and their fear that children would be killed, sent to Russia, or taken away from their parents. Under the Catholic Church’s direction, foster families eagerly took the children into their homes as refugees from communism. In reality, however, the children were not orphans, but rather left the island openly; many went to barracks, not homes, where they stayed for months until a placement could be found; [End Page 201] and as older, poorer, and blacker children arrived, foster families were less welcoming. Furthermore, the CIA funded this project and spread misinformation about Castro. Only it was not Castro, but Peter Pan, who separated parents and children. Cuba’s later monuments to the Peter Pan children reveal the nation’s portrayal of the symbolic child. While Americans saw themselves as saving children from communism; the newly-formed Cuba inspired its people with the anti-imperialist narrative that the U.S. stole not only their resources and money, but also their children. Those familiar with the 1972 National Association of Black Social Workers’ condemnation of adoption of black children by white parents in the U.S. may be surprised by black Canadians’ support for the same kind of transracial adoption twenty years earlier. Transracial adoption began in 1950s Montreal as the Children’s Centre needed more adoptive families. The Centre began placing children across racial boundaries with parents who “could take some chances” and would be willing to adopt children with disabilities or “with coloured blood (62).” White families joined the black community in various efforts and learned about racism. These “hybrid” children, as Dubinsky calls them, carried heavy cultural and political weight for they personified integration, racial peace, and the goodness of white Canadians. The success of the small number of transracial adoptions and the frequent...

Transracial adoption has created a hidden identity for this population, which in turn has had profound impact on their understanding of self; especially their racial and ethnic identity. This research focuses on the needs of Korean American transracial adoptees in particular, during their transition into higher education. In this portraiture, I explored the lived experiences of Korean American transracial adoptees and their ethnic and racial identity development and its impact on their overall college experiences. Critical race theory guided the research questions used for this analysis. General guide interview were conducted with a total of four Korean American transracial adoptees. Two adoptees are currently attending colleges in Massachusetts and two adoptees are recent graduates from colleges in Massachusetts. Findings from this research may be used by college administrators, staff, and faculty to raise awareness of issues and challenges adoptees may face in college and to better serve these students in college. Furthermore, these findings support the importance of narrative and allowing individuals to find their voice in telling their stories.

Background There is an absence of research on working with transracially adopted children in the UK. This suggests the need to provide insight into how art psychotherapy practice can be used to explore the transracially adopted child's lived experience of navigating their racial and adoptive identity. The theory of intersectionality highlights the importance of recognising marginalised categories of identity. Without such, these children may only integrate partial knowledge of themselves, which inevitably undermines their voice and ability to hold power in a racialised and oppressive socio-political system. Aims The study aimed to explore: how art therapists work with transracially adopted children to help them find a coherent sense of self; what therapists themselves consider the benefits and limitations of the art psychotherapy practice; intersectional thinking as a way to avoid examining identity differences in silos. Methods This study used semi-structured interviews to gather the views of four art psychotherapists. Thematic analysis was then used to analyse the data collected. Results Evolved as three themes: the containing role of art psychotherapists, primary caregivers and wider care system; a child-led approach; the challenge of integrating cultural humility into the art psychotherapy profession. Conclusion Findings highlighted a systemic approach to processing trauma, including the use of shared, joined-up and non-verbal language could be key in helping transracial adoptees explore their identity using culturally relevant approaches in art psychotherapy. Implications for practice and future research The researcher recommends that access to cultural humility training is formalised for art psychotherapists in order to establish anti-oppressive frameworks. Plain-language summary This article outlines a research project, which examined how art psychotherapy can be used to explore the identity of children and young people who have been adopted transracially. Within this context, it sought to gain a better understanding of how art psychotherapists currently use artmaking and creativity in the therapeutic relationship with these children. It is recognised that for a transracially adopted child's placement to be successful their sense of identity and belonging needs to be supported. In some areas of the UK, post-adoption support exists, which includes access to art psychotherapy. For this research project, four qualified UK based art psychotherapists were interviewed in the hope of revealing what these participants considered to be the benefits and the limitations of art psychotherapy practice when working with this client group. Additionally, the researcher examined the art psychotherapists’ motivations for engaging in this specific subject area. Participants were further asked if any personal challenges, such as their own racial background and/or unconscious biases arose when navigating a transracially adopted child's racial and adoptive identity. From the findings, the researcher provided recommendations that recognise the need for the formal integration of cultural humility for both trainee and qualified art psychotherapists. This small study highlighted three themes: the containing role of art psychotherapists, primary caregivers and the wider care system; a child-led approach; and the challenge of integrating cultural humility into the art psychotherapy profession.