The history of transracial adoption generates a controversy between its benefits for American society and the danger of psychological harm to a child resulting from it. The families that decide to adopt children of a different race might have good intentions, but they are not prepared for further complications emerging in their upbringing (Rogers & Nice, 2018). Their competence is insufficient in terms of dealing with accompanying issues, and the practice of transracial adoption is not as good as society is trying to demonstrate to prospective foster parents.
Reasons for Transracial Adoption
To reveal the causes of adoption challenges, it is vital to consider the motivation of people who started to adopt children of a different race as well as its evolution over the course of history. This trend appeared in the 1960s due to the lack of white children for adoption, which was reasonable at that time as women started to pay attention to birth control (Marr, 2017). Such a situation led to the creation of legal frameworks allowing for the adoption of African American and Hispanic children (Marr, 2017). However, the development of this practice in the present-day world is not justifiable as the preference of children of a different race for adoption is merely an attempt to eliminate racial intolerance (Heiden-Roots, Miller, & Moore, 2019). In this case, the problem derives from the neglect of its impact on a child.
Hidden Problems of Transracially Adopted Children
The issues that transracially adopted children face are difficult to reveal as they are related to the complex process of cultural socialization. It implies the way ethnic and racial values are addressed within a family. According to Heiden-Rootes et al. (2019), cultural socialization predicts psychological and behavioral outcomes for children in transracial families. Hence, their well-being solely depends on parental competence, which is difficult to measure. However, it is known that foster parents of transracially adopted children are unlikely to support them in connecting to their birth culture, forming racial identity, and discussing the experiences of racism (Heiden-Rootes et al., 2019). It allows concluding on the parents’ inability to satisfy the needs of children of a different race related to their personality formation.
Discrimination Problems of Transracial Families
Adolescence is the most vulnerable time of human life, and the support of children in transracial families is especially crucial due to their discrimination. The researchers proved that they tend to identify with their parents’ ethnicity but suffer from public commenting on their difference from them (Guzman, Brodell, Langley, & Waterman, 2020). It increases vulnerability and results in inner conflicts they are unlikely to discuss with their foster parents.
The level of discrimination against transracially adopted children is higher than against other adopted children, and this situation leads to the increased pressure on them due to their visible adoption status (Guzman et al., 2020). As stated above, their parents lack the required competence, which allows them to solve such problems, and it might result in a child’s inability to find his or her place in society.
Conclusion
The adoption of children of a different race in the present-day world is unjustified and leads to severe consequences for their personality and racial identity. They are conditional upon the lack of parental competence and the desire to support them in learning about their own culture. Together with discrimination against transracially adopted children, these factors lead to the necessity to refuse from encouraging such a practice on a societal level.
References
Guzman, J., Brodell, R., Langley, A., & Waterman, J. (2020). Transracially adopted youth and adolescent identity and discrimination distress. Journal of Adolescent Health, 66(2), S94. doi:10.1016/j.jadohealth.2019.11.188.
Heiden-Rootes, K., Miller, B., & Moore, R. (2019). Cultural socialization in transracial adoption: Adoption support, multicultural experiences, perceptions of discrimination, and positive feelings toward racial minority groups. Adoption Quarterly, 22(4), 247-264.
Marr, E. (2017). US transracial adoption trends in the 21st century. Adoption Quarterly, 20(3), 222-251.
Rogers, B., & Nice L. (2018). Finding the hidden resiliencies: Racial identity and spiritual meaning in transracial adoption. In E. Esmiol Wilson & L, Nice (Eds.), Socially just religious and spiritual interventions. AFTA SpringerBriefs in family therapy. Cham, Switzerland: Springer.