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In the UK, social workers are required by law to consider a child’s ethnicity, along with other significant factors, when planning for and placing children in permanent placements. In practice, decisions are often made difficult by the complexity of children’s heritages.\ud \ud Little research attention has been paid to how social workers understand and respond to ethnic differences, and local authorities have only been required to record the ethnicity of children in their care since 2001. This has revealed that minority ethnic children are less likely to be placed for adoption, and questions have been raised about whether this is because they receive a different social work service to white children, or that the emphasis on “same race” matched placements restricts choice, or that there is a lack of suitable adopters.\ud \ud This pioneering study explores the care pathways of minority ethnic children in three authorities in England, and considers possible differences in decision making and outcomes for them, in comparison with white children, especially in relation to permanence. It raises key questions about our understanding of ethnicity and culture and how these are reflected in social work practice, especially with regard to making permanent placements for minority ethnic children.\ud \ud Pathways to permanence for black, Asian and mixed ethnicity children forms part of the Department for Children, Schools and Families’ Adoption Research Initiative which is examining how the Adoption and Children Act 2002 in England and Wales, and various related policy initiatives, are being translated into local policies, procedures and practices. It will be of considerable interest to anyone involved in adoption, from practitioners and managers to policy makers.

Transracial adoption has provoked much polarised commentary, initiated heated debate and stirred up strong feelings. Yet the experience of transracially adopted people themselves remains on the margins and has rarely been given a voice.\ud \ud Through a series of intensely moving testimonies, In search of belonging conveys the complexity for black and minority ethnic children of being raised by a white adoptive family. It demonstrates the lifelong impact of transracial adoption and illustrates that to view such placements in either positive or negative terms is far too simplistic. The themes of separation and loss, the search for identity and belonging permeate these accounts, but so does the power of healing and survival, happiness and hope. A wide range of experiences is described, including racism during childhood, placement disruption, visiting country or origin, reclaiming cultural heritage, searching for birth mothers, fathers and other relatives, becoming a parent, involvement with the psychiatric system and connecting with other transracial adoptees.\ud \ud This highly original anthology brings together established writers, new and emerging writers and those who have never been published before. Through poetry, art, autobiography, memoir and oral testimony over 50 transracially adopted people tell it like it was, and is, for them. The contributors range in age from six to 56 years and were born and adopted both in the UK and countries as different as Kenya and Hong Kong, Cambodia, Sri Lanka and El Salvador.\ud \ud As well as a Foreword by acclaimed poet Lemn Sissay, the book includes a substantial introduction and a comprehensive resource section.\ud \ud In search of belonging is for all transracially adopted young people and adults. It will also be of interest to other adoptees, birth relatives, adoptive parents, prospective adoptive parents, social workers, social work students, family placement workers, counsellors, therapists, mental health and other professionals.