Training for Transracial Adoptive Parents and Professionals Who Care for Transracially Adopted Children: The Roles of Identity Formation and Self-Esteem in Successful Placements

This thesis examines the roles of identity formation and self-esteem development as interwoven determining factors of successful transracial adoptive placements. Transracially adopted children have the arduous and conflicting tasks of 1) conforming to the family culture, and 2) developing identities that are racially different from those who parent them. The goal of such a placement is for the transracially adopted child(ren) and the adopting family to join together to form a new biracial and bicultural family unit. Using a conceptual framework encompassing Maslow\u27s Hierarchy of Needs, Erikson\u27s Stages of Development, the Dual Perspective, and the Ecosystem Perspective, the author develops a training session for transracially adopting parents, and for professionals involved with out-of-home placement. The training provides participants with parenting strategies and crucial information needed to address the unique and inherent challenges of transracial adoption

The Lived Experience of Adoption: Do Current Conceptualizations Reflect Changing Realities?

The lived experiences of four adopted college undergraduates were documented through a series of semi-structured interviews across a two-year period. Participants were interviewed during their engagement as mentors in an adoption-specific mentoring program (the Adoption Mentoring Program, AMP) in which they were each paired with an adopted child from the community in one-to-one relationships. Importantly, participation in the mentoring program offered mentors a chance to connect with same-aged peers around issues of adoption research, theory, and experiences. Participation in this program is viewed as a marked change in the social context of adoption experienced by participants; this social change provided a unique opportunity to interview these mentors over the course of their participation, and assess the degree to which their experiences map onto current theoretical conceptualizations of adoption. Interviews focused specifically on adopted emerging adults’ understanding of the impact their adoptive status has had on other aspects of self (e.g., racial identity) and adoptive family relations (e.g., communication). Template analysis methodology facilitated the identification of participants’ changing attitudes and views about their life as adopted persons. Extant concepts used in current adoption literature did indeed emerge as salient for many of the participants (e.g., communication about adoption, identity development, and racial identity); however, analyses of interviews revealed new aspects of the lived experience of adoption not currently integrated into the field’s knowledge base. Implications of these emergent themes to future research and clinical practice with adopted persons are discussed, as are the strengths, limitations, and future directions of this research

Beyond the Controversy: An Exploration of Cultural Socialization Behaviors in Transracial Adoptive Families

The voices of the families that have successfully raised transracially adopted children with a positive cultural identity are missing from the literature: “Further research is needed on adoption from the perspective of the adoptee” (Clark et al., 2006, p. 192). There are methodological shortcomings that inhibit our ability to definitively determine adjustment outcomes for this population. Such shortcomings, combined with a failure to address additional variables that influence outcomes, have left identified gaps in the research unaddressed. The purpose of this grounded theory study is to identify the cultural socialization behaviors that contributed to the development of the participant’s positive bicultural identity. Data was collected from 3 African American transracial adoptees. Six themes on the experience of transracial adoption and the development of a positive bicultural identity emerged from the data: Representation Matters; Put Up or Shut Up; They Ain’t Ready; We All Family Here; We are the Bridge, and Stuck Between Two Worlds; Part of Both, Claimed by Neither. Additionally, the presence of these 6 themes appears to be describing an integrated and reciprocally recursive process of development towards a positive bicultural identity, with connections to critical areas of cultural competence for transracial adoptive parenting. The reported socialization behaviors that serve as manifestations of racial awareness, multicultural planning, and survival skills and contributions to the emergent themes are presented in the following constructed themes: Ancillary Supports, Extracurricular Activities, Open Dialogue, Application of Cultural Awareness in Parenting, and Literature and Films

Unique Features of Identity Development in Transnational Adoptions

Identity formation has been defined as the process by which an individual develops a coherent self-definition of one’s uniqueness (Erikson, 1968). Arnett (2000; 2014) proposed the concept of emerging adulthood (between ages 18 and 29) as the developmental stage of later adolescence at which an individual is both cognitively and psychologically best suited for identity formation. Emerging adults who had been adopted transnationally as children often struggle to articulate their ethnic identity as a dimension of their broader individual identity (Schwartz et al., 2013) because they have characteristics that do not fit into those of the majority (Adams & Marshall, 1996). Guided by ecological systems theory (Bronfenbrenner, 1998), this mixed-method pilot study seeks to demonstrate how family environments, contact with birth parents, community context, and culture (Grotevant et al., 2000) influence the ethnic identity development of emerging adults who have been adopted transnationally. It employs the Multi-Group Ethnic Identity Measure (MEIM) proposed by Phinney et al. (1999) in order to investigate the influence of age at adoption, adoptive parental support of adoptee exploration of identity and cultural roots, and adoptee contact with birth parents upon the ethnic identity formation of eleven emerging adults who had been adopted from China. It then suggests that adoptive parental support of their child’s exploration of her birth culture is a positive influence, that contact with birth parents may be both a positive and a negative influence, and that belonging to an adoptee support group may not only be a positive influence but also may foster the formation of an identity as an ethnic adoptee in the adoptive country—in the case of this study’s participants, of being Chinese adoptees in America

ADOPTING IDENTITIES: ASSOCIATIONS BETWEEN ADOPTION, RACIAL-ETHNIC, AND SEXUAL MINORITY PARENT SOCIALIZATION AND CHILDREN’S ATTACHMENT, GLOBAL SELF-WORTH, AND UNDERSTANDING OF IDENTITY

Utilizing a sample of lesbian, gay, and heterosexual adoptive parent families with school-age children, results suggested that parents engage in adoption communication less but racial-ethnic socialization more when a child is transracially adopted. No differences were found in lesbian and gay parents socialization practices for adoptive or racial-ethnic identity. Further, lesbian and gay parents engaged in sexual minority parent socialization less than adoptive or racial-ethnic socialization. Children’s self-worth was related to sex but not socialization practices such that girls reported lower self-worth, and no significant associations were present for children’s closeness. Children’s age, sex, and transracial adoptive status were predictive of their understanding of adoption and only children’s age was predictive of their recognition of sexual minority parent socialization. Children’s sex and transracial adoptive status as predictors of understanding of adoption have not yet been reported on in the literature. Further, no work has reported on associations between parent and child socialization practices in the context of sexual minority parent socialization. The implications of differences emerging in parent socialization frequency (i.e., racial-ethnic communication higher than adoptive communicative openness), as well as how children’s sex and transracial adoptive status contribute to children’s understanding of adoption will be discussed

Transracial Adoption: An Investigation of how Schools Shape Racial Identity

The purpose of this descriptive case study was to investigate how schools, including educators and curriculum, shape transracial adoptees\u27 racial identity development. International transracial adoptees and transracial adoptees who were adopted through foster care shared their school experiences through interviews. In addition, participants offered artifacts which they felt impacted their racial identity development, from their time in school, including photographs and past assignments, to further answer the research questions. Steward and Baden\u27s (1995) Cultural-Racial Identity Model was used to frame which experiences affirmed or discounted participants\u27 racial identity development. The data collected from this research suggested that school experiences and educators impact transracial adoptees\u27 racial identity development. This study consisted of research that identified educators\u27 actions, including building relationships with transracial adoptees and encouraging them to learn about and share their birth culture in the classroom, as well as normalizing teaching about cultures and diversity in the classroom, as important in affirming racial and cultural identity development

A comparative study of the metaperceptions of transracially adoptive mothers and adoptees in South Africa

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (Community-Based Counselling Psychology)Although metaperceptions and transracial adoption (TRA) have been investigated separately, research has not thoroughly investigated the metaperceptions of families involved in TRA. Moreover, little research into TRA has focussed on a comparison of the adoptive mothers and adoptive young adults’ experiences of their TRA or the similarities and differences between the metaperceptions they hold. The study aimed to explore how the metaperceptions of White mothers and Black young adults are constructed in relation to their TRA. The study utilised a qualitative research methodology to achieve these aims. Four focus group discussions were held with 3 to 5 participants in each group. Two groups consisted of White TRA mothers aged 25 to 65 who had transracially adopted Black children; while the other 2 groups consisted of Black transracially adopted young adults aged 18 to 28 years. The data from the study was analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). The findings highlighted the differing experiences presented in TRA for the mother, young adult and the family. These experiences informed metaperceptions and the identities of mothers and young adults. Social constructions around the family and race relations in South Africa were represented in the metaperceptions of participants. The study was able to produce a social commentary on the social constructions of race relations, the family and other social categorisations in South Africa through unpacking elements of participants’ metaperceptions and experiences. The comparison between the two participant groups revealed that their metaperceptions were generally similar, or were supportive of each other’s discussions. The results of this research indicate that context specific interventions and support programmes should be developed in the areas identified as challenging for participants, as they may be beneficial to mothers and young adults involved in TRA. Furthermore, the results of the study highlight the current state of race relations in South Africa and the way in which they impact on the general functioning of South Africans

Domestic Transracial Adoption: In the Words of African American Adoptees

Abstract not provided by author

Korean Adoptees as Parents: Intergenerationality of Ethnic, Racial, and Adoption Socialization

Objective: Using a socialization framework, this study aimed to understand the intergenerational patterns of ethnic, racial, and adoption socialization practices. Background: Understanding the impact of ethnicity, race, and adoption is a lifelong process for transracially, transnationally adopted individuals. Few studies, however, have explored how adult adoptees socialize their children on ethnicity, race, and adoption and to what extent this socialization is informed by their own transracial, transnational adoption experiences. Method: On the basis of 51 interviews, we investigated adopted Korean Americans’ reappraisal of their ethnic, racial, and adoption socialization experiences growing up transracially and transnationally, as well as their current ethnic, racial, and adoption socialization practices with their children. Results: Despite the generally limited ethnic, racial, and adoption socialization from White adoptive parents, we found via thematic analysis that Korean adoptee parents used strategies such as reculturation with their children, birth family involvement, and emphasis in multiculturalism in response to the need for ethnic, racial, and adoption socialization in the next generation. Conclusion: These themes reflect the unique intergenerational transmission of ethnic heritage, racial experiences, and adoption history based on having grown up in transracial and transnational families of their own. Implications: Findings can inform evidence-based practice in working with adopted individuals and their families, particularly in addressing ethnic, racial, and adoption socialization practices

Attachment and Identity in Higher Education: Lived Experiences of Korean Adoptees

Abstract South Korea has been the largest sending country of adoptees since the Korean War. Many of the adoptees were placed in predominantly White communities in the Midwest United States. In the existing literature, researchers revealed that Korean adoptees expressed feelings related to loss of ethnic identity, birth culture, and place of belonging. It has not been fully understood how attachment and identity influence Korean adoptees in their pursuit of a higher education. Therefore, this study sought to examine the impacts of attachment to birth culture, adoptive culture, and adoptive family combined with issues of ethnic identity in the lived experiences of Korean adoptees in pursuit of a degree in higher education. This was a qualitative case study designed to inspect the how and why questions of this problem. The researcher collected data through interviews, journals, and member checking. The sample included 14 adult Korean adoptees who had grown up in the Midwest and had graduated from a four-year college or university in the Midwest between 1987 and 2017. There were two male participants and 12 female participants. Data were deconstructed, continuously rearranged, and analyzed through in vivo coding. The researcher found that Korean adoptees experienced concerns related to attachment to birth culture, Korean identity, and stereotypes. The researcher concluded that Korean adoptees pursued higher education because of their adoptive family’s expectations. Keywords: Asian, attachment, ethnic identity, higher education, international adoption, Korean adoptees (KADs), South Korea, transnational adoptio