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This conversation develops ideas about the overlap between childhood studies and adoption studies at the intersection of transnational and transracial adoption, particularly of Korean children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under what social conditions would ethnic sectarians in developed countries engage in inter-country adoption, grafting ethnically diverse children into their homogeneous contexts? In this article, we present a case study of Amish-Mennonite adoption-oriented children's homes in underdeveloped countries. As the ethnic sectarian, family-oriented, evangelical Amish-Mennonites met little success proselytizing adults, adoption-oriented children's home allowed adoptive parents to demonstrate their commitment to mission while maintaining sectarian-style control over a child's socialization. Ultimately, the children's homes were short lived, coming and going based on larger geo-political dynamics, signaling that this unusual international adoption project is internally motivated but enabled and constrained by larger institutional contexts. Although the actual percentage of inter-country adoptees to Amish-Mennonite homes is small, this case demonstrates that the right combination of values and broader political dynamics create conditions facilitating migration of children from lesser developed countries into wealthy contexts, a process cracking – even if not fully opening – Amish-Mennonite ethnic/racial homogeneity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on the concept of liminal space in anthropology, originating from van Gennep's work on rites of passage. Topics include the temporary nature of liminal spaces as transitional or crossing over points, the simultaneous and conflicting emotions experienced in liminality, and the argument that adoption is often experienced as a liminal space.

This special issue attends to the significance of middlebrow culture in shaping societal perceptions of transnational and/or transracial adoptions. The contributing authors demonstrate how paying attention to the adoptee lifecycle from childhood to adulthood exposes the capaciousness of belonging to the family and nation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ideologies of motherhood reflect the complexities and contradictions of what it means to be seen as a worthy parent—someone who deserves to care for children—in contrast to those deemed unworthy or undesirable. The family is a site of contestation when accounting for the ways maternalism and white supremacy affect racialized family systems in the lives of people of color in white American suburbia. In a critical engagement with the 2017 novel Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng and the 2020 Hulu -released series by the same name, this essay reveals the contours of non-normative kinship formations, including surrogacy and adoption. These kinship ties demonstrate the tensions of motherhood as a gendered, raced, and classed phenomena. A reproductive justice framework reveals the way Little Fires Everywhere —the novel and the series—demonstrate the legibility and legitimacy of some families over others in exploring the contingencies of kinship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors assert client initiated microaggressions and racism towards Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) counselors exist. They argue that the 2014 American Counseling Association ethical codes applied from the lens of a BIPOC counselor provide guidance to navigate the ethical dilemmas microaggressive and racist incidents create. They apply the Transcultural Integrative Model, an ethical decision-making model with a unique emphasis on counselor and client culture and worldviews, to a BIPOC counselor case vignette featuring transracial and transnational adoption ethics. They also demonstrate how Critical Race Theory considerations can be embedded within the ethical decision-making process. Implications for counselors, counselor educators, and clinical supervisors are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate within-group differences among Danish non-kin adoptees with regard to probability of mental health problems and post-adoption out-of-home care (OHC) placement, with a particular focus on whether adoption age and country of origin mattered. Methods: I used Danish registry data on non-kin adoptees born between 1989 and 1994 (N =2922) at the age of 17 and applied bivariate analyses and seemingly unrelated regression to describe associations between non-kin adoptees' adoption characteristics and two outcomes: (a) psychiatric contact and (b) post-adoption OHC. Results: Psychiatric contact and post-adoption OHC co-occurred among non-kin adoptees, and these two life events should be considered jointly. Adoption age mattered equally for the risk of psychiatric contact and OHC, but country of origin mattered more for psychiatric contact than for OHC. Adoption at one year of age and older was associated with an elevated risk of psychiatric contact and OHC. Romanian adoptees had a higher likelihood of psychiatric contact when compared to all the other adoptees, regardless of country of origin. In contrast, adoptees from India had a lower probability of psychiatric contact and of entering OHC compared to all the other adoptees. Conclusions: The heterogeneity in non-kin adoptees' psychiatric contact and OHC in terms of adoption age and country of origin is important to consider in future research, as well as for social workers and clinicians in their role of promoting health and preventing mental health problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Existing psychosocial research offers little information on the unique challenges and strengths of children adopted from China with cleft lip and/or palate (CL/P). The present study aimed to understand biopsychosocial factors that support positive self-concept in this population. Design: Qualitative, semistructured interviews were conducted with children and their parents. Interpretive phenomenological analysis of transcribed interviews was utilized for data analysis. Setting: Participants were recruited in an outpatient, pediatric multidisciplinary cleft clinic during a standard team visit. Patients, Participants: Participants were ages 8 to 12 years with a diagnosis of isolated cleft lip-palate who were internationally adopted from China before the age of 2 years and English-speaking. Participants also included English-speaking parents. Results: Themes reflecting data from the child and parent subsamples include: (1) child's characteristics, (2) family strengths, (3) adoption identity, (4) cultural identity, (5) coping with a cleft, and (6) social factors. Additional 2 to 3 subthemes were identified for the parent and child subsamples within each broader theme. Conclusions: Findings from this sample suggested factors supporting positive self-concept included pride and self-efficacy in activities, family support, instilment of family values, strategies for coping with a cleft, family belonging, cultural exposure, and normalization of differences. Medical providers can support patients and families by providing education on surgeries, CL/P sequelae and outcomes, and pediatric medical stress. Mental health providers can screen for social and emotional challenges and provide psychoeducation on racial/ethnic socialization, identity development, and coping. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This conversation between artist Lisa Wool-Rim Sjöblom and anthropologist and adoption scholar Eleana J. Kim discusses the US Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization in the context of transnational, transracial adoption. [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]

The family has historically been considered the foundational block to society. The familial structure, ideally, establishes the moral groundwork of the nation. Parental figures are to instill the future generation with civic responsibility through moral and loving guidance. The individuals that make up a family, in turn reflect the type of citizens that make up the larger community. The familial archetype, in general, has progressed from one relying on and prioritizing biology to a more inclusive model that recognizes families based not in blood but legal kinship. This research extends an existing idea presented by historian, Barbara Melosh. Through her book, Strangers and Kin, Melosh described how adoptive families occupy two spaces: "public and private realms."1 Despite the private nature of the family, adoptive families are created through public law. Drawing on the theme of duality, this paper intends to explore citizenship through the historical lens of United States adoption, and more specifically international-interracial adoption by United States citizens. The process of adoption is an extremely personal experience and yet it opens an entirely new dialogue for understanding citizenship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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 nobreakspace adoptive families. Implications: Findings can inform evidence‐based practice in working with adopted individuals and their families, particularly in addressing ethnic, racial, and adoption socialization practices. [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]

Critical Adoption Studies scholar Dr. Kimberly D. McKee interviews writer Shannon Gibney about her creative and critical writing--much of it dealing with issues of transracial adoption, critical race studies, and the after-effects of multigenerational family trauma. The two also discuss trends in adoptee activism, communities, and cultural production. [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]

Queer theory has been brought to bear on adoption studies (e.g., queer parenting or gay and lesbian adoption rights, transracial and transnational adoption), but adoption studies has not meaningfully directed its attention toward sexuality per se. This paper introduces the idea that adoption is a fruitful lens through which to expand understandings of sexual regulation, sexual identities, or sexual intensities, pleasures, and intimacies. It also suggests that analyses of the interplay between meanings of adoption and sexuality are an opportunity to rethink both. It enlivens critical thought surrounding heteronormativity by leveraging adoption as a version of existence that is fundamentally at odds with heterosexuality as a reproductive end. [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]

Sexual and social reproductive disjunctures are produced by Korean international adoption, and this dissonance impacts the racialization of the adoptive family. In their participation in the nonprocreative sexual reproduction of the white, heteronormative family, these families disrupt normative white and Asian American families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This study examined groups of cultural and racial socialization using latent profile analysis (LPA) in a sample of White adoptive mothers of Chinese girls. This study also examined mothers' and girls' characteristics associated with group membership. Participants were 215 White mothers who had adopted Chinese girls and were members of an adoption support group. LPA revealed four groups of cultural and racial socialization based on patterns of cultural and racial socialization measured by four subscales of the Transracial Adoption Parenting Scale–Revised. The study reveals the importance of using a range of approaches to support international adoptive families. Furthermore, the profiles of cultural and racial socialization hold implications for future socialization research and post-adoption support with respect to the groups to be prioritized and the strategies to be employed. In particular, post-adoption support efforts may be targeted on groups of international adoptive parents who are in the group, low cultural and low racial socialization. Highlights • This study examined typologies of cultural and racial socialization using latent profile analysis. • Four cultural and racial socialization groups were identified: (a) low cultural and low racial socialization , (b) racial awareness dominant/no cultural integration , (c) cultural socialization dominant , and (d) high cultural and high racial socialization. • Post-adoption education and support should be targeted on international adoptive parents in the low cultural and low racial socialization group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: There is a paucity of data on disordered eating among adoptees. The aim of the present study was to explore the prevalence of symptoms of disordered eating and body image concerns among international adoptees in a large representative community survey on health‐related behaviours. Method: Combining survey data from the Stockholm Public Health Cohort and Swedish population data, adult international adoptees were compared with total participant data to assess differences in disordered eating and body dissatisfaction. Results: International adoptee women displayed significantly higher levels of self‐induced vomiting, loss‐of‐control eating, food preoccupation, underweight, and wish for thinness compared with nonadoptee women, albeit with small or very small effect sizes. No significant differences were found in terms of mean body mass index, cognitive restraint, or emotional eating. Conclusion: International adoptee women were disproportionally affected on several measures of disordered eating, although the magnitude of these differences were generally small in absolute terms. [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]

American literature on international adoption suggests that adoptees' pride in the culture of their birth country improves their self-esteem and helps them to cope with experiences of racism. Parents are therefore encouraged to teach their adopted children multicultural skills to improve their psychological well-being. French psychologists, on the contrary, suggest that adoptees should feel fully members of their adoptive country and families. These practices shed light on the respective multicultural and universalist paradigms in the US and France. Few papers, however, consider the opinions of adoptees. This study explores internationally adopted children raised in France and their spontaneous curiosity about their birth country. The present study used semistructured interviews with 19 adoptees aged 8-18 years old, to explore their attitudes towards the culture of their birth country. Transcripts of recorded interviews were analyzed according to interpretative phenomenological analysis. While there was striking consistency of interest in birth countries, adoptees' expression of curiosity varied across time. Children described distinctive goals: knowing more about their history, finding relatives, becoming a multicultural citizen, or simply helping people. Their parents' involvement was thus seen as helpful, but adoptees stress the need to feel ready and may prefer independent ways of learning about their birth country. Adoptees' multiple feelings of belonging derive not only from multicultural training but from a lifelong construction of self. Professionals and parents may need to adapt to adoptees' individual development, distinctive time frames, and ways of learning to provide better support to them. [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]

The relationship between ethnic socialization by parents, peers, and ethnic identity development was examined over a 7-year time span in a sample of 116 internationally adopted Korean American adolescents. Parent report data was collected in 2007 (Time 1 [Tl]) when the adopted child was between 7 and 13 years old and again in 2014 at ages 13 to 20 years old (Time 2 [T2]). Adolescent report data also was collected in 2014. We examined differences in parent and adolescent reports of parental ethnic socialization at T2, changes in parent reports of ethnic socialization from Tl to T2, and the relationship among ethnic socialization by parents at Tl and T2, ethnic socialization by peers at T2, and ethnic identity exploration and resolution at T2. Results indicated parents reported higher levels of parental ethnic socialization than adolescents did at T2. Parent reports of parental ethnic socialization also decreased between childhood and adolescence. Adolescents reported higher parental ethnic socialization than peer ethnic socialization at T2. Path analysis demonstrated positive indirect pathways among parental ethnic socialization at Tl, parental ethnic socialization and peer ethnic socialization at T2, and ethnic identity exploration and ethnic identity resolution at T2. The study highlights the cultural experiences of transracial, transnational adopted individuals, the role of both parents and peers in ethnic socialization and ethnic identity development, and the importance of longitudinal and multi-informant methodology. [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]

The process of adopting a child can be protracted and difficult. Members of families formed through adoption, especially international or transracial adoption, often find that others treat their family as not fully real or legitimate. I analyze stories told by five adoptive mothers about the remarkable circumstances through which their children joined their families and their attendant sense that larger-than-human forces must have played a role. Critics of international adoption object that such stories depict birth parents as expendable and mask political and economic inequality. I argue that such an interpretation results when the stories are overgeneralized and stretched beyond their meaning-making capacity. When told within and among adoptive families, they valuably stabilize mothers' identities and assure children that they belong. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examined the mental health problems of Dutch young adult domestic adoptees (N = 75) relative to Dutch non-adopted peers and Dutch international adoptees. We found small differences in favor of the non-adopted peers (N = 2021), while a minority of male domestic adoptees were at risk of anxiety/depression problems. Domestic adoptees showed somewhat less problems behavior than international adoptees (N = 1331). Domestic and international adoptees differed in search status (non-searcher, searcher, reunited), although this could not explain any differences in mental health problems. Social workers and clinicians should support (male) adult adoptees in coping with possible feelings of anxiety and depression. Future studies should pay attention to gender differences in adoptees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article problematizes the concept of whiteness by applying it to the Scandinavian transnational/transracial adoptee literature. Topics discussed include the book "White" by Richard Dyer which calls for the study of white people within white Western culture, and how Scandinavian transracial adoptees are indoctrinated into the whiteness norm.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore relationships among adoption, individual, and family variables on false belief performance of children adopted internationally (CAI). Method: Using a quasiexperimental design, thirty-five 4-year-old children adopted from Asian and Eastern European countries before age 2 years were compared with a U.S. group of 33 nonadopted 4-year-old children on a standardized English-language measure, 3 false belief tasks, and a go/no-go inhibition measure. Results: The adopted group differed significantly from the U.S. nonadopted group in expressive language and false belief performance. For the adopted group, inhibition measures were significantly correlated with core language scores. Core language scores and number of older siblings predicted false belief performance. Conclusions: Similar to children who are not adopted, language competence and living with older siblings positively influenced social understanding in CAI. Because CAI experience interrupted language acquisition and live with fewer older siblings, they are at risk of having weaker language competence and social understanding in their adopted language. When working with CAI, practitioners should assess social communication, language competence, and inhibition skills. They should assist adoptive families in providing socially mentored opportunities for their children to observe and interact with older children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite nearly half a million transnational adoptions to the United States, most of which are also transracial, sociological research has given little attention to this phenomenon. This review demonstrates why more sociological attention on Korean transnational adoption in particular is warranted. I review one area with overwhelming sociological significance-identity formation, including the distinct dimensions of racial, ethnic, and adoptive identities. While the bulk of this research has taken place outside of sociology, in reviewing the findings, I argue the sociological significance of Korean transnational transracial adoption to examinations of race, racialization, and identity formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International adoption is seen by some as a solution to the large number of children in institutional care. However, our previous findings did not support the notion that international adoption contributes to the deinstitutionalisation of children (Browne and Chou, ; Chou and Browne, ). As our previous study was cross-sectional, the aim of this study was to investigate the relationship over time in a country that has banned international adoptions (Romania) and a country that has continued the practice (Lithuania). The numbers of children in care and the numbers of adoptions were obtained from government websites and by contacting government departments. A positive correlation was found between institutional care and international adoption in Romania between 1997 and 2012. The findings for Romania indicated that stopping international adoption was not accompanied by an increase in the number of children in institutional care. A reduction in institutional care in Romania only occurred after the ban on international adoption. However, no correlation was found for Lithuania as both practices remained constant between 2000 and 2012. The findings for Lithuania showed that continued international adoption was not accompanied by a reduction in institutional care. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Key Practitioner Messages The notion of international adoption being a viable way to reduce the extent of institutional care is not supported by evidence., The differences in the levels of national income and birth rates cannot always explain the differences in the development of children's services between countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes research investigating maternal adjustment to parenthood via special needs and non–special needs adoption from China. China's adoption system has a program for adoption of children with special needs and those without and both have remained top sources for intercountry adoption. Participants were 46 women who were surveyed at six weeks before, six weeks after, and six months after adopting a child. The psychological functioning of mothers adopting from China was assessed using the Beck Depression Index, the Brief Symptom Inventory, and the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scales. Mothers adopting children without special needs reported higher levels of depression, anxiety, and adjustment problems at clinical levels six weeks following the adoption. Mothers adopting children with special needs reported positive adjustment and low psychological dysfunction at all three time points. These results suggest that mothers pursuing a non–special needs adoption route are at greater risk for adjustment and psychological difficulties post-adoption. Mothers adopting special needs children may be better prepared prior to the adoption and may receive more support after returning home. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The Irish-American adoptions were a revolutionary way of dealing with Ireland's problem of the illegitimate child. Ireland had long been promoted as a Catholic, and thus, a morally pure country. Having a child out of wedlock often resulted in the mother and child being shunned by their family and community and having little choice but to seek the help of church-run institutions. These institutions began facilitating illegal extraterritorial adoptions in 1947 to relieve mounting pressures as those seeking their help continued to grow annually. These adoptions were heavily concerned with protecting the religious faith of the child, and this often took prominence over the quality of the home. The adoptions were facilitated exclusively by these church-run institutions, allowing for complete control over the selection of prospective parents. The standards of these adoptions fell well below what was expected on the U.S. domestic scale, with no visits to the homes of prospective parents, and, crucially, there was no way to facilitate the reversal of an adoption. During the early life of the Irish- American adoptions, the Irish Department of External Affairs had little involvement and only issued passports for children that had been adopted. However, this changed in 1951, as the 'Jane Russell Case' attracted front-page media attention. The Russell case highlights the lackadaisical approach of many of those within the department to exporting some of Ireland's youngest citizens. Undue publicity continued in the early 1950s, notably with the German newspaper, 8 Uhr Blatt. It is this media attention that forced the department to finally address the glaring issues that severely hindered the success of Irish-American adoptions. The department was powerless to do anything once the child had been passed into the care of the adoptive parents. The Adoption Act of 1952 marked a major turning point in the care of illegitimate children in Ireland. Legal adoption was opened on the domestic and international fronts. The conditions and standards of the Irish-American adoptions improved dramatically under this act as requirements for adoption were officially put in place, and while they still had their issues, the standard of these adoptions continued to improve through their latter stages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing studies demonstrate that the identity formation of internationally adopted children and the adjustments of adoptive families reside in the processes of cross-cultural and intercultural communication. However, there have been few studies on international adoption from the perspectives of intercultural and cross-cultural communication. Following a previous qualitative study on the experiences of adult international adoptees, this project employs a quantitative method to examine the ongoing (before, during, and after adoption) cross-cultural adaptation and identity formation of international adoptees from the perspectives of adoptive parents. The findings of the study have identified the key issues involved in the cross-cultural adaptation process and discussed experiences of adoptive families for dealing with those issues. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Research highlights lasting cognitive and academic challenges in youth internationally adopted from institutional care. However, there is a lack of research examining internationally adopted students' sense of membership at school and associated academic and psychological outcomes. The current study measured sense of school membership and academic and psychological outcomes in post-institutionalized internationally adopted high school students (n = 29) compared to adolescents internationally adopted from foster care (n = 28) and non-adopted adolescents (n = 32). Post-institutionalized males had a lower sense of school membership than males adopted from foster care or non-adopted males. Group differences in school membership were mediated by academic achievement and psychological well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

With the rapid development of globalization, intercountry adoption has become a part of American family's lives, among which the majority is interracial adoption, especially, from Asian countries such as Korea and China. While interracial adoptees grow up in Caucasian families and identify with American mainstream culture cognitively, affectively, and functionally, their physical appearance differing from their adoptive parents is the decisive sign to remind the large society to treat them as "Others." This phenomenon has resulted in serious uncertainty and anxiety in the development of those adoptees' cultural identities. As various studies on international adoption tried to find solutions within the adoptive society, this project takes a further step to explore Chinese adoptees' identity formation and cross-cultural adaptation experiences by analyzing their communication with two sets of families (adoptive and birth families) in both adoptive and birth countries (the U.S. and China). The themes and patterns emerging from the ethnographic data, which Dr. Chang accumulated in 15 years through producing documentary films collaboratively with Chinese adoptees, and their adoptive and birth families, demonstrate that those adoptees actively construct their identity through direct contact with both cultures, and that while they enthusiastically learn Chinese language and culture, they have developed and kept important American cultural values internalized since they were young. More importantly, the results also show that cross-cultural adaptation and transformation is not a simple integration of both cultures. Instead, it creates a cultural space within which those adoptees constantly negotiate and construct their cultural identities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As transnational adoption grows, many American children await adoption in the United States. Because many of these children are children of color (and often black), we ask: What role does race play in parents’ decisions to adopt abroad rather than adopt domestically? In-depth interviews with 41 parents reveal that parents adopt abroad for many reasons. Regarding racial motivations, although some parents were open to children of any race and several actively sought nonwhite children, many had limits—they did not want to adopt African American children. We look at how parents articulate the role of race in their decisions, and the implications for domestic adoption and broader race relations in the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research in general has shown a beneficial effect of ethnic identity on adoptees' psychological well-being. However, studies also indicate that overemphasis on birth culture and racial/ethnic differences may negatively impact adoptees' overall adjustment. Using Rojewski's () and Brodzinsky's () propositions of a balanced approach to adoption and culture issues, this study examines the curvilinear relationship between ethnic identity and psychological well-being of international adoptees (i.e., psychological well-being will be high when ethnic identity is moderate instead of either low or high). Using data from a study on identity development and psychological well-being in international adoptees, the hypothesized relationship was examined among 100 internationally adopted Asian adolescents and young adults placed with White parents in the United States. Results indicated that a moderate level of ethnic identity was associated with positive esteem, whereas low and high levels of ethnic identity were related to low self-esteem. Implications for practice and research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This qualitative interview study examined experiences of racialization and coping among 14 adult international adoptees in Finland. The results show that adoptees encounter a range of racializations by which they are made “other” and excluded from Finnishness. Racialization mostly occurs indirectly and subtly, and often by significant others, and consequently is more difficult to cope with. The findings suggest that the Finnish adoption community and adoption research should pay more attention to experiences of racialization among adoptees and take notice of the context-specific nature of coping when supporting adoptees to develop strategies that reduce discrimination and protect their well-being. However, eliminating racism requires interventions at all levels: from the individual to the family, community, and nation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Internationally adopted adolescents may have more delinquent behavior than non-adopted adolescents. One explanation is that these adolescents experience discrimination and loss of culture, and adoptive parents are not adequately addressing these experiences. However, studies have not examined the effects of family discussions of racial and ethnic differences within adoptive families on adopted adolescents' delinquent behavior. To test this relationship, this study utilized data from 111 U.S. internationally adoptive families with 185 South Korean adopted adolescents (55% female, M age = 17.75). During an observational assessment, families discussed the importance of their racial and ethnic differences, and adolescents completed a delinquent behavior questionnaire. Analysis of covariance showed differences in adolescent delinquent behavior across three ways adoptive families discussed racial and ethnic differences; adolescents whose families acknowledged differences had the fewest mean delinquent behaviors. There were no significant differences in delinquent behavior between adolescents whose families acknowledged or rejected the importance of racial and ethnic differences. However, adopted adolescents whose families held discrepant views of differences had significantly more problem behavior than adolescents whose families either acknowledged or rejected the importance of racial and ethnic differences. Clinicians, adoption professionals, and other parenting specialists should focus on building cohesive family identities about racial and ethnic differences, as discrepant views of differences are associated with the most adoptee delinquent behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article talks about the increasing number of interracial adoptions in the U.S. Topics discussed include almost one-third of adoptions coming from China, single parents and gay people adopting as an alternative way to have a family, and there not being enough literature about adoption for the use of educators.

This article discusses the methodological and conceptual issues surrounding a long-term follow-up study of girls adopted from orphanages in China around the age of two years. The aim of the study was to see if any effects of early negative experiences affected the women some 45 years later. Seventy-two out of the original 100 women were assessed by means of interviews and questionnaires that explored their health, behaviour, achievements, life satisfaction, self-esteem, relationships, ethnic identification, community connectedness and personality profiles. The results were compared with data from the UK National Child Development Study of children born in 1958. It was found that on the measures used, the adopted women were little different from the national population, suggesting that early disadvantage can be reversed and positive developmental pathways re-established. The article then reviews the methods and instruments used to assess adults in mid-life, especially those sensitive to identifying adversities resulting from early neglect. It is suggested that checklists of psychological problems may be insufficient to produce a complete picture and that a wider range of measures is needed to capture important features of interpersonal relationships and parenting histories, with an additional requirement to incorporate the experiences and variables introduced by adoption. Two concepts – ‘life-long preoccupations’ and ‘a carapace’ – are suggested as especially useful in this respect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]