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Motivation to adopt transracially is under-researched in the South African context. This paper reports on qualitative psycho-social research, using the life stage model to investigate motivation to adopt in 26 transracially adoptive families, interviewed in focus groups and family interviews. Results indicate that the decision to adopt is complex, and influenced by opportunities and obstacles. Both parent- and child-centered motivations, as well as preferential adoption are endorsed by parents. Preferential adoption and child-centered motivation in the absence of fertility problems create a novel family form, which include both biological and adopted children, for almost half the families interviewed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The experience of adopted college/university students and young adults, and their unique challenges in understanding the development of their personal identities, is an important topic for research and clinical practice with adopted people. This paper examines college and university students' understanding of how their life experiences of being born Asian but being raised in a non-Asian adoptive family have influenced their personal racial identity formation and how this may have affected their choices of study and career. In addition to subjects' responses to a questionnaire, participants completed five peer-reviewed scales that revealed information about how they perceive their racial identities and their efforts to distinguish genetics from environmental influences on their personal identities. This article reports on the key findings that have significance for psychotherapists treating these students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reviews the history, cultural features and issues that therapists and researchers need to be aware of in working with and for Indigenous adoptees. It discusses areas to cover in assessment, including awareness of the ubiquity of dissociation in this population, both culturally normal and trauma induced dissociation. Finally, it offers suggestions for interventions drawing from cultural ceremonies, arts/crafts and other traditions, as well as psychotherapeutic interventions based on building a trusting relationship, ego state therapy and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To read this article, it is important to know that I am a transnational (but not transracial) adoptee and that my Taiwanese birth mother hoped my adoption would give me a "better" life in the United States. I present three interconnected arguments that introduce the concept of a nomencurriculum. The first argument is that my and others' names are infused with multiple ideologies and aspirations. Second, I contend that names are part of a lived curriculum. Lastly, I assert that names are an analytical lens that allows me to examine lived curricula that emerges from names and namings. I do so by studying my own three namings using AsianCrit and decolonial analyses as well as how each (my English given name, Cantonese given name, and Mandarin given/chosen name) represents attempts at assimilation, erasure, and reclamation, respectively. I use critical race archival analyses and rememory of documents from my own adoption case files from Taipei District Court, the Superior Court of California, and a family study of my parents—the only extant records of my namings. Through my examination of my lived and school curricula, I highlight the global contexts and power dynamics that impact students' self-knowledge and their resistance against official discourses. This article, then, elucidates the analytic possibility of a nomencurriculum, which contributes to the field of curriculum studies by considering the power of names and namings. The nomencurriculum provides a way for individuals to engage with their lived curricula within formalized educational spaces that tighten their senses of self and often reinforce state-sanctioned narratives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intercountry adoptees (ICAs) face life-long challenges within their ecological contexts that warrant exploration. Adoptees' visible adoptions make them susceptible to microaggressions. This study examined the relation between racial and adoption microaggressions (RMAs, AMAs) and youths' belonging-to-family among 98 French intercountry adopted adolescents. Moderators of this relation were also explored (visibility, identity connections to country-of-origin or adoption, and parent-adoptee communication challenges). More RMA experiences were correlated with weaker belonging-to-family; logistic regression analyses revealed that stronger identity connections to country-of-origin exacerbated this correlation. The nature of these microaggressions was similar to those noted in previous studies on ICAs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This exploratory, qualitative research study explores (a) the motivations of Plain Anabaptist (Plain Mennonite and Amish) families to foster mainstream (non-Plain) children, (b) families' experiences in the training and home study process, and (c) characteristics and practices of Plain Anabaptist families who provide foster care. Findings support the recommendation for child welfare systems to explore the possibility of Plain Mennonite and Amish families providing foster care for children. Plain Anabaptist families are receptive to learning and adapting in order to provide foster care, especially for babies, young children, and children with special needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the evolution of adoption policy and practices in Guatemala from the 1990s to 2021. The authors synthesized own research and analyzed adoption scholarship and reports and organized that history in three distinct periods: (1) conflict years (1966–1996) when mostly Guatemalan military families and associates adopted stolen children, (2) post-conflict and millennium adoption years (1997-2007) when the commercialization of children and illicit adoptions surged, and (3) reform years (2008 to date) when new adoption regulations and institutions were established. The article concludes that Guatemalan regulations aligned with international conventions improved domestic adoption, but gaps remain within the adoption and child protection system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transracial adoptees continually navigate the paradoxes of adoption, which arise in bio-normative and racialized contexts. "Being-adopted-and-Māori" was explored with 15 Māori adult adoptees. Hermeneutic phenomenological analysis revealed experiences of adoptive and racial "differentness," centered around four key paradoxes: "as if born to"; the lived experience of transracial adoption; post-reunion biological kinship; and whaka-papa. Examining these paradoxes elucidated the discursive basis of lived and felt contradictions and ambivalence, as well as otherness and exclusion. Māori adoptee identities are considered paradoxical precisely because they disobey hegemonic discourses. Their experiences tell us how dominant discourses of adoption and identity need to change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes Rachel Dolezal's autobiography In Full Color: Finding My Place in a Black and White World as a means to excavate the contours of an emergent Emotive race regime—a regime from which claimants to transracial identities base their sense of belonging. I argue that this Emotive regime repurposes Aristotelian ethos as a referent for racial identity, and I then show the entailments of this change in referent with respect to theories of racial reproduction. I conclude by cautioning that existing theories of racial constructivism may provide the theoretical backdrop to those who claim transracial identities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adult adoptees and adoption professionals encourage transracial adoptive parents to provide cultural socialization (CS)—learning about and facilitating a sense of connectedness to children's birth culture. Research showed that CS is related to positive developmental outcomes. However, recent studies suggested that there were varying degrees of cultural depth in CS (Quiroz, 2012; Zhang & Pinderhughes, 2019). This qualitative study examined how transracial adoptive parents addressed cultural depth in CS. Thirty transracial adoptive parents participated in semi-structured phone interviews. Five themes related to cultural depth were identified using phenomenological analysis. Findings revealed that parents' cognitions about culture (understanding of adoptees' birth culture, acknowledgment of limited cultural knowledge, and the belief that "culture is not everything"), and actions that facilitate cultural connections (providing role models, creating diverse context) all varied in depth. This paper discussed variations in CS depth and suggested that a deep cultural connection may provide a foundation for adoptees to pursue their identity development journeys as adolescents and young adults. Social workers can use the findings of this study to guide their self-examination of cultural understanding, as well as to help adoptive parents to provide deeper CS to their children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. 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. This study used semi-structured interviews to gather the views of four art psychotherapists. Thematic analysis was then used to analyse the data collected. 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. 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. The researcher recommends that access to cultural humility training is formalised for art psychotherapists in order to establish anti-oppressive frameworks. 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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study using both qualitative and quantitative analysis, we coded the types and community prevalence of racial microaggressions (RMAs) and adoption microaggressions (AMAs) experienced and reported by White adoptive families with children adopted from China. Analyses examined differences in microaggressions reported by transracial adoptive families living in communities varying in racial-ethnic diversity. All families experienced RMAs and/or AMAs. Community diversity was only related to the number of RMAs experienced, and specific microaggressions were significantly related to diversity level. Parents' interpretation of microaggressions differed based on diversity level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This qualitative study explored the experiences of transracial Korean adoptee returnees who were born in Korea, separated from their biological families, raised in the United States and three European countries by White families, and given an Anglicized or Germanic name at the time of their adoption. This study focused on participants' journeys of reclaiming their Korean birth names and the various influences that factored into this decision. Data were collected from in-depth, semi-structured interviews (in-person or via Skype) and coded using grounded-theory methods that integrated a constructivist-interpretivist and critical epistemological paradigm. Participants (N = 12) were transracial Korean adoptees with ages ranging from 22 to 42 years (M = 32.67 years) who were between 0 and 88 months (M = 22.33 months) at the time of adoption, all of whom had returned to Korea. Results from the interviews revealed 11 axial categories and 2 overarching selective categories related to the name reclamation process: (a) name reclamation was part of a larger identity development process; (b) factors that prevented or slowed the name reclamation process. Limitations and future areas of research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adopted youth often do not achieve in school as well as their non-adopted peers. We used data from the High School Longitudinal Study to examine high school and postsecondary achievement outcomes in adopted youth. We compared outcomes for domestically adopted youth, internationally adopted youth, and non-adopted youth. Results indicate that domestically adopted youth have lower grade point averages. Internationally adopted youth were less likely to enroll in four-year postsecondary institutions than were non-adopted youth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Family communication scholarship on transnational adoption has privileged adoptive family communication, in part, because only a fraction of transnational adoptees have been able to locate birth relatives. Given increased global access to DNA testing and more advanced technologies, reunions between transnational adoptees and birth families are increasing. Informed by our positionalities as an adoptive mother of a child born in China and a Korean adult adoptee in reunion with her birth family, we set an agenda for family communication research in the context of transnational adoption birth family search and reunion. We raise three questions for consideration in future family communication research on this topic: (a) Whose history is this?, (b) Whose search is this?, and (c) Whose culture is this? This agenda privileges theories and constructs promising for answering these questions, including communication privacy management theory, family communication patterns theory, adoptive identity, ambiguous loss, and culture and communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For much of the twentieth century unmarried motherhood caused considerable anxiety in Ireland, as it did in many other countries. The Commission understood this evidence as "stories", with witnesses considered unreliable in their testimony. The range of archives looked at by the Commission is found in volume 6. There were two arms to the Commission, a "confidential committee" where former residents and staff could provide accounts of their experiences, and an investigation committee. [Extracted from the article]

Adoptive families must navigate public discourse about adoption. This study examined how transracial adoptive (TRA) and same-race adoptive (SRA) families communicated to their children through internal boundary management, teaching external boundary management strategies, and preparation for bias as ways to address adoption microaggressions (AMAs). 104 U.S. adoptive parents (TRA = 77; SRA = 27) completed a survey about their communication about four types of AMA situations (i.e., Lucky, Destiny, "Deficient" Birth Parents, Search). What parents directly communicated to the child to address these AMAs and links to what parents thought of AMAs were explored. Nine themes emerged within parents' communication reflecting different uses of internal boundary management, teaching external boundary management, and preparation for bias strategies. Findings illuminated the complexities in parents' direct communication involving nuanced messages to adopted children about navigating AMAs. Enhanced education and training for adoptive parents can improve their understanding and ability to help children who are adopted address adoption bias. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2018, the Ethiopian Parliament closed its intercountry adoption program. Momentum to end the program followed reports of adoption-related exploitation including the abduction and sale of children, falsification of documentation, bribing of officials, inaccurate testimonies, and false promises to birth families. The Ethiopian Parliament also cited concerns over the identity and psychological problems of adoptees as contributing factors to the ban. This paper explores how adoptive parents, with knowledge of exploitation in their own adoptions, are responding emotionally and pragmatically. Qualitative analysis of interview data provides insight into how adoptive parents communicate about and integrate referral and emergent adoption narratives in the service of healthy identity development in adopted children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transracial adoption (TRA) has been practised and researched in wealthy industrialized countries for decades, but there is limited literature about this practice in low- and middle-income countries like South Africa, where it is an uncommon and relatively new practice. Transracial adoption is heavily influenced by the context in which it occurs. Particular contextual features make South Africa well placed to showcase a different form of transracial adoption. This paper starts filling in the gap in the international literature by outlining historical, socio-economic and cultural features that influence the practice of transracial adoption and the experiences of transracial adoptive families in South Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transracial adoption (TRA) in South Africa is a relatively young practice due to the legacy of Apartheid and continued racial segregation. As such, little research has explored TRA family experiences in South Africa. Experts worldwide agree that TRA parents need to engage their children in racial and cultural socialization. To explore parental attitudes toward the cultural and racial socialization of their TRA children, this study adopted a mixed-method approach. First, 76 TRA parents completed the Transracial Adoption Parenting Scale. Second, using Vonk's (2001) three-part definition of TRA parent cultural competence, 35 TRA parents were interviewed regarding their racial awareness, multicultural planning, and imparting of survival skills to their adopted children. Findings are discussed along with implications for educating potential TRA parents of the importance of racial/cultural socialization of transracial adoptees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parents (N = 166) in transracial, international adoptive (TIA) families with children from China or Vietnam were surveyed to investigate their experiences with privacy turbulence surrounding the family’s private, adoptionrelated information. About half described at least one instance of privacy turbulence, with a total of 98 instances. The instances included examples of all six types of privacy turbulence described in Communication Privacy Management theory, but two of those types, namely boundary rule mistakes and boundary definition predicaments, accounted for 90% of the instances of turbulence. Evidence of explicit rules and catalyst criteria for rule formation in the turbulence descriptions suggest ways that TIA parents might be able to avoid or manage privacy turbulence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As families in the United States (U.S.) are increasingly diverse in race and family structure, it is essential to understand family socialization around identity and possible associations with family relationships and child development. In this study, we investigated adoption communicative openness (i.e., how parents talk about adoption) and racial/cultural socialization among 96 adoptive families (46% completed transracial adoption) with lesbian, gay, and heterosexual parents and school-age children (Mage = 8 years) who lived across the U.S. We found that these practices (described by parents) were associated with children's reports of parent-child relationships and children's teachers reports of their academic functioning. We discuss the importance of considering distinct forms of identity socialization practices, as reported by different informants, among adoptive families diverse in race and parental sexual orientation, and as related to associations with individual outcomes and family relationships. We describe how our results could inform future research, policy, and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study investigated how engagement in cultural activities impacted transracial adoptive parent satisfaction with adoption, closeness with child, and child academic outcomes. Data from the National Survey of Adoptive Parents were analyzed to expand upon previous studies. Confirmatory factor analyses were used to determine a "cultural activities" variable that consisted of five items. Results of regression analyses demonstrated significant associations between cultural activities and parent satisfaction with adoption, cultural activities and closeness with child, and cultural activities and child academic performance. A cultural receptivity process model informs the advocacy of cultural activity engagement in transracially adoptive families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While international adoptions to Sweden have fallen in line with global trends, the presence of the transracial adoptee body remains central to myths of good (white) Swedishness. This article explores the desire for and performance of the international transracial adoptee as a mimic Swede. Analysing published Swedish international transracial adoption narratives, it draws on Bhabha's concept of mimicry to critically deconstruct the idea of a hierarchical and racialized triad of (non-)belonging in discourses of Swedishness: Swede – Adoptee – Immigrant. It reflects on the desired role and purpose of the adoptee as a mimic, and the consequences of rendering the adoptee as a body trapped in a frantic state of non-belonging between almost sameness and almost Otherness, and desired for a visible difference that is unspeakable in a national colour-blind discourse. Discussing the tendency for mimicry to drift into mockery and menace, the article finishes by reflecting on possibility of harnessing the underlying threat of mimicry as a means of resistance to the adoption project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This poetic narrative autoethnographic inquiry explores lived experiences of a transracial adoptee Asian American coming to terms with his identity through the examination of the complexities of his inaccessible familial roots. As a method of qualitative research, poetic inquiry is interested in creative language-based processes of constraint, synthesis, crystallization, image, and lyrical form exercised as a phenomenological and existential choice that extends beyond the use of poetic methods to a way of being in the world [Prendergast, M., Leggo, C., & Sameshima, P. (2009). Poetic inquiry: Vibrant voices in the social sciences. Sense Publishing]. Supported by this theoretical underpinning, this piece employs poetic narrative autoethnography to explore notions identity development through expressive reflection. Working from Hanauer's (2012. Growing up in the unseen shadow of the Kindertransport. Qualitative Inquiry, 18(10), 845–851. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800412456960) model, the author selected four of his previously written poems and then wrote narrative reflections on each poem in order to use the poems as a transcript for analysis. This study provides insights into how transracial adoptees may construct their identities through poetry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this explanatory case study, the researcher examined how adult Colombian adoptees, whose adoptions may have been facilitated under corrupt or suspicious circumstances, sought to learn factual information about their adoption narratives. Related journalistic documentation was also included in the case study analysis. The researcher found three major themes: (1) Discrepancy discovery, (2) Searching for answers, and (3) Social justice seeking. A moral ethical framework offers the theoretical orientation undergirding the study. Clinical implications for adoption practitioners are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports Phase II findings of an exploratory study of 26 families who have adopted children with Asian heritage, where at least one parent is Asian American. In-depth interviews provided a rich exploration of parents' motivations to kin through adoption, the ways in which race and ethnicity factored into their child-selection preferences (if at all), their assumptions about their ability to create kinship bonds with an adopted child, and strategies for racial and ethnic socialization. The themes of approximating or performing family and inconspicuousness were repeated by parents when they considered how race and ethnicity factored into child-selection preferences and their assumptions about creating kinship bonds. The adoptive parents in this study were measured and nuanced in weighing the role of race and ethnicity for Asian adoptees, but the implicit strategies of modeling, mentoring, and intergenerational transmission were described less as strategies, and more about belonging and being a part of an extended tribe that was more authentic because of a shared identity as Asian Americans. Ultimately the question of whose interests are being served when race and ethnicity are considered has been dynamic and shifting throughout adoption history. This study sought to contribute in a small part to moving the conversation beyond the polarized Black-White racialized paradigm and provides direction for further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parent involvement in racial-ethnic socialization of transracial adoptees has been studied primarily via the parent perspective. The goal of this study was to explore the adoptee's perspective about how their parents' racial-ethnic socialization strategies impacted their own sense of racial and ethnic identity. Fourteen female Asian international transracial adoptees were interviewed and the data were analyzed using Consensual Qualitative Research (CQR; Hill et al., 1997). The findings highlight the challenges of identity development for transracial adoptees. These results and discussion contribute to the existing literature and debate on this topic by prompting consideration of alterations to the adoption process and necessary work to be done by White adoptive parents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This mixed-methods study examines 20 adult Hong Kong Adoptees (HKADs) with an average age of 53.7 years who attended a Gathering of HKADs in Hong Kong. It has three elements (pre- and post-Gathering surveys and an interview). All participants engaged in two of the three parts of the study, while 14 of those 20 participated in all three parts. Survey data for the HKADs revealed significantly increased comfort with their Hong Kong identities following the visit to Hong Kong. Interviews with 20 attendees yielded themes surrounding reasons for attending; experiences and emotions; and the challenges and benefits of the gathering and returning to Hong Kong. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

France receives a relatively large number of international adoptions. However, little is known about the frequency and types of microaggressions experienced by adoptive parents and internationally adopted adolescents in France. Unusually, France functions legally as a colorblind society, where race is not officially recognized. Therefore, we surveyed adoptive parents and adopted adolescents regarding their feelings of difference and experience of prejudice – related to both adoptive status and country of origin. Some respondents reported that special needs represented an additional area of stigma. Family belonging, adoption identity, and adoption visibility all impacted the experience of microaggressions by French internationally adopted adolescents and their parents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the implications of recent developments in U.S. intercountry adoption (ICA) policy for vulnerable children. We review policy and practices from 2004-2018, including (1) the 2008 implementation of the Hague Convention and (2) the 2017 changes in Hague accrediting entities for adoption agencies. By analyzing the ICA contexts of the top five States of origin, we argue the decline in ICA is from factors within States of origin rather than U.S. policy. Though ICA benefits individual children's development, it can cause harm at a systems level, so the decline in ICA has mixed implications for vulnerable children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A sample of adoptive parents, including an oversampling of lesbian mothers (n = 125), was surveyed regarding their family's school experiences related to adoption, satisfaction with how the school handled adoption-related issues, and their child's experiences with teasing at school. Linear and logistic regression analyses showed that lesbian mothers were more likely than heterosexual parents and gay fathers to disclose their child's adoption status in the school record and to ensure that the school was aware of the child's adoption. Lesbian mothers were also more likely than heterosexual parents and gay fathers to report talking to teachers about adoption issues. There were no differences as a function of parent sexual orientation regarding rates of children being teased about adoption status. However, rates of teasing regarding child race/ethnicity were higher for children of lesbian mothers and gay fathers than for children of heterosexual parents. The implications of the findings for future research and the provision of services for lesbian mothers are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This mixed methods study examined the nature of adoption and racial microaggressions and their relations with age and community diversity among 42 Chinese transracial adoptees ages 5–9. Using microaggression typologies by Baden and Sue et al., we found that children must often navigate multiple messages within a single microaggression incident. Although experience and awareness of microaggressions did not differ among children by community diversity, experience of racial microaggression incidents was positively associated with age. Given that young children experience microaggressions, preparation for bias should be considered for children at young ages in a developmentally appropriate manner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study compared transracial adoption (TRA) parents who adopted internationally to those who adopted domestically (total n = 188; domestic n = 71; international n = 117) on multicultural experiences, perception of discrimination, and positive feelings toward racial minority groups, adoption support, and Parental Cultural Competence (PCC). Next a model for predicting PCC for both groups was tested. Results indicated significant differences between the groups based on multicultural experiences, perception of discrimination and positive feelings towards racial minority groups, and degree of available adoption support. Regression models predicting PCC tested with groups combined and separate suggest the significant role of multicultural experiences in predicting PCC for both groups; however, the largest effect of multicultural experiences on PCC was seen for domestic transracially adoptive parents. Discussion of results is considered with implications for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our case study focused on the adoptive identity development of two female Chinese adoptees over the course of five years (from when they were 7 and 9 until they were 12 and 14 years old, respectively). The study investigated the adoptive parent's and family identities through six interviews with the adoptive mother, adoptees' behavioral adjustment reported by the mother, two unstructured observations, and exploration of adoptees' narratives. The study was guided by a narrative-based framework situated with the cultural socialization approach. Results highlight four central themes: 1) becoming Chinese-Americans; 2) meaning related to adoption is both spoken and unspoken; 3) a we-ness identity, and 4) social-cultural contexts of identity work. Findings demonstrate the incorporation of adoption and the adoptees' race and culture into the adoptive parent's and family identities. Findings further illuminate that one's identity is developed within personal, familial, and social-cultural contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study of transracially adopted adolescents and their White parents examines the role of two types of parental racial socialization, preparation for bias and cultural socialization, in protecting adoptees from the impact of discrimination. Sixty-six transracially adopted adolescent–parent dyads in the United States completed an online questionnaire. Preparation for bias, and not cultural socialization, protected transracial adoptees from discrimination-related stress, in particular when experiencing high levels of racism. The importance of parents talking to their transracially adopted adolescents about racism and how to cope with it and the value of researchers examining types of racial socialization separately as opposed to broadly are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We tested the validity and measurement invariance of the Transracial Adoptive Parenting scale (TAPS) across sexual orientation with a nationwide sample of adoptive parents. Our study sample consisted of 737 heterosexual, 102 lesbian, and 64 gay adoptive parents from the Modern Adoptive Families (MAF) study, a cross-sectional survey. We conducted reliability analyses, as well as exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses for the 29-item TAPs. We then tested for measurement invariance based on sexual orientation. Findings show the TAPS is a reliable scale with a two-factor model measuring racial socialization and managing bias related to racial socialization practices. However, there was measurement invariance based on parent sexual orientation. Our study informs practitioners that the TAPS measure is a useful tool for assessment and intervention that can be used with sexual minority transracial adoptive parents. However, cautions against comparing TAPs scores across parental sexual orientation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the field of adoption and child welfare, there is ongoing debate and discussion about how white adoptive parents in transracial families construct personal and social relationships and networks to promote cultural belonging and identity development in their children. In spite of this however, there is, to date, no research study that has sought to apply the notion of social capital to understand transracial adoptive families. With its exploration of how white American adoptive mothers construct social capital in raising their transracially adopted children, this paper seeks to contribute to the literature on social capital and families in general, and social capital and transracial families in particular. By drawing upon a qualitative study involving white adoptive mothers’ discursive practices, and multiplex constructions of intersectionality, the paper seeks to offer rich theoretical and empirical insights into social capital and transracial adoption to contribute to the literature in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The racial characteristics of children adopted from abroad by American parents have fluctuated sharply over time in response to changing legislation and attitudes toward intercountry adoptions in the United States and the sending countries. This study investigates how the likelihood of parents adopting a White versus non-White child varies by the characteristics of the adopted child, the parents, and the household. Our analyses, using the 2008–2012 American Community Survey, show that parents consider the child's age, sex, and health; the presence of adopted and biologically related children in the household; and shifts in the availability of children across major sending countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The aim of this study was to explore how educated Bedouin women perceive the causes and meaning of their marriages to Bedouin men with intellectual disability (ID). Methods: In-depth semi-structured ethnographic interviews were utilised in data collection from 15 educated Bedouin women who were married to Bedouin men with ID. The interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim, and then translated into English. Themes were generated using thematic analysis. Results: Six main reasons are presented: the need for independence; age; family and societal pressures; receiving social protection of the husband or man; destiny; and the desire for children. Conclusions: The research findings offer an intra-cultural insight into the reasons for marriages from the point of view of the women. These reasons have a cultural and community basis. These results provide a valuable conceptual understanding of the phenomenon of the marriage of educated Bedouin women to Bedouin men with an ID. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Past quantitative ethnic identity research on transracial and international adoptees (TRIAs) has focused on their birth culture. Given that adoptees may also identify with their adoptive family’s culture, we examined Korean and White European American ethnic identities in Korean American adoptees. Identity exploration and commitment were significantly positively correlated within each referent group. Results also indicated relatively higher levels of birth group identity exploration and higher adoptive group identity commitment. In addition, we used cluster analysis to create ethnic identity profiles and investigated the relations between identity profiles and sense of belonging and exclusion. Our findings signal a need to support TRIAs to develop inclusive flexible ethnic identities and suggest future research should examine multiple referent groups and the intersection of these identities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to examine the psychometric properties of the 10-item Socialization Self-Efficacy Scale (SSES) using a sample of international transracially adoptive parents. This online survey design study recruited transracially adoptive parents from parenting support groups. Using a random split sample of the data, exploratory factor analysis resulted in two subfactors: cultural socialization self-efficacy and racial socialization self-efficacy. Next, confirmatory factor analysis in the remaining sample supported the two-factor structure. The findings provide strong initial support for the validity of the SSES that measures transracially adoptive parents' motivation and belief in their ability to engage in cultural and racial socialization practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the adoption of the Child Care Act of 1991, many families in South Africa have been formed through transracial adoption, particularly through the placement of black children in white-parented homes. Though this family form has increased over the past two decades, very little research has been dedicated to understanding the experiences of these families in South African society. The current study explored these families' interactions with outsiders through in-depth interviews with 35 parents who have adopted transracially across four South African provinces. Parents received a variety of comments and questions regarding their family identity, but overwhelmingly reported positive experiences. Parents described different response strategies, dependent on circumstance and level of intrusiveness. Overall, parents were willing to endure public attention and intrusion to raise awareness of adoption and transracial relationships in South Africa. This study begins the process of examining this unique family form in a changing society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Participants, 92 Korean-born transracial international adoptees, responded to two open-ended questions designed to explorebothpositive and negative aspects of transracial adoption. Almost all of them reported experiencing both benefits and challenges, suggesting that transracial adoption is more complex than the polarized “success or failure” paradigm that underlies much of the transracial adoption research. Participants described negative features that are consistent with themes in the extant literature, including racism, alienation from their White families and peers, unfamiliarity with Korean culture, and identity confusion. They also described positive aspects that have been less frequently explored, such as greater learning and awareness and advantages of belonging to multiple cultures. Of interest, facets that some adoptees considered to be positive aspects of transracial adoption were considered by others to be negative aspects. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

U.S. culture uses phenotypical resemblance as the primary way that family ties are legitimized and authenticated. Transracial adoption challenges this type of kinship authentication because of the lack of resemblance among family members. This article explores how transracial family members experience and perceive interactions and conversations regarding family acknowledgment, belonging, and resemblance. This study finds that transracial family members must contend with being both hypervisible and incomprehensible as a family formation due to normative assumptions of which family members “belong” together. Transracial family members use specific strategies to challenge and reinforce these assumptions. To examine this phenomenon, 30 in-depth, life-story interviews with transracial family members are employed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Guided by intergroup and discourse dependence theorizing, the present study explored how divergent identities are communicatively negotiated in transracial adoptive families. Specifically, we examined how adoptive parents’ understandings of their child’s race and culture changed after adopting transracially and how adoptive parents navigated racial and cultural differences through talk. Results from 21 interviews revealed that adoptive parents reported anincreased awarenessof race and culture, such that anew appreciationfor their child’s race and culture developed yet simultaneouslyamplified ambivalence. Results further indicated parents utilizednarrating, naming, ritualizing, discussing, normalizing, andpraisingto communicatively negotiate racial and cultural identity differences. Findings contribute to transracial adoptive family research by illuminating how parents make sense of differing social identities within the family. Results also advance discourse-dependence theorizing by demonstrating the context-specific nature of internal boundary management strategies and by giving voice to the prevalence of border work in transracial adoptive families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Internationally adopted children show higher rates of disinhibited social behavior (DSB). Two competing explanations for DSB include difficulties in attachment specifically and deficits in inhibitory control more generally. This four-wave longitudinal study (a) documented the persistence of DSB among internationally adopted children and (b) tested the relative contributions of attachment environment versus inhibitory control difficulties in the persistence of DSB. Improvement in DSB was found 3 to 4 years post-adoption for the sample as a whole, although heterogeneity within the sample was present. Results from structural equation modeling and another test of mediation both indicated that the association between early deprivation and DSB was mediated by general difficulties with inhibitory control, not by attachment environment. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This qualitative study aims at identifying the main representations of the international adoption process through a comparative analysis of 62 Italian stories about international adoption. Content analysis involves the use of thematic analysis as well as computer-assisted text analysis. Results show that adoption is represented varying from a polarization in which “the positive” is situated in the “adoptive world” while “the negative” pertains to the world of the origins, to a more integrated representation in which both the adoptive context and the origins entail positive aspects. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Transracial adoption debates revolve around adoptee best interest with support focusing on individual rights and opposition emphasizing identity. How the media portrayed the Baby Veronica case highlights tensions between colorblind individualism and collective color consciousness central to the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA). Content analysis of 262 mainstream and Native American newspaper articles illustrates the complex use of both frameworks with Native American sources more often noting the importance of tribal ties and drawing from a more diverse range of authorities. Findings have implications for public attitudes regarding tribal rights, adoption and foster care policies and practices, and the future of ICWA. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]