Transracial Adoption

In this study, we explored racial microaggressions (RMAs) and adoption microaggressions (AMAs) experienced and committed by white adoptive parents of transracial adoptees. Two research questions guided this inquiry: (a) What types of RMAs and AMAs do white adoptive parents of children adopted from China experience and commit? and (b) how is white adoptive parental awareness of race and adoption related to their committing of microaggressions? Based on qualitative coding of interviews conducted with 39 white adoptive parents of Chinese adoptees, the most frequently coded AMA was Biology is Best for experienced AMAs and Phantom Birth Parents for committed AMAs...

This exploratory study examined the relation between pubertal timing and dimensions of ethnic-racial identity among adopted Korean Americans raised transracially in White families. The study also examined whether internalized racism moderated the association between pubertal timing and ethnic-racial identity. Adopted Korean American adolescents (N = 202; 108 females; ages 13-19 years) completed measures of pubertal development, ethnic-racial identity, and internalized racism in 2007. There was no significant main effect of pubertal timing for either male or female adolescents...

Foster care is a service for children who cannot live with their families. There are many reasons for foster care, the most common of which is parental neglect and/or substance abuse. At any one time, more than 400,000 US children are in foster care. Although 59% are eventually reunited with their parents, some end up in other situations, including adoption. Children should undergo a physician evaluation within 72 hours of entering foster care, a comprehensive evaluation within 30 days, and a follow-up visit within 60 to 90 days, followed by routine care...

The prevalence of substance use among transracial and international adoptees is higher than that of non-adopted persons, and yet no specialized treatment modalities exist for this underserved population. Our purpose is to propose a substance use disorder (SUD) prevention program for transracial adoptive families that addresses the specific issues that face this community. There are several pre- and post-adoption factors which position transracial and international adoptees (TRIAs) to be at higher risk to develop SUDs...

Adoption has been viewed as inferior to birthing, carrying social stigma which has resulted in members of the adoption triad, specifically adoptees, experiencing discrimination at all levels of the ecological system (Baden, 2016; Wegar, 2000). Transracial and international adoptees holding marginalized racial or ethnic identities contend with discrimination around their adoption status and their racial designation. Unique to the transracial adoptee experience is belonging to families who do not share their racial and cultural backgrounds...

Over 50% of adoptions are transracial, involving primarily White parents and children of color from different ethnic or racial backgrounds. Transracial adoptive (TRA) parents are tasked with providing ethnic-racial socialization processes (ERS) to support TRA adoptees' ethnic-racial identity development and prepare them to cope with ethnic-racial discrimination. However, unlike nonadoptive families of color, TRA parents lack shared cultural history with adoptees and have limited experience navigating racial discrimination...

The parenting practices of both transracially adopted Korean American adults and multiracial families are often overlooked in developmental science, yet are important to address, given that the majority of Korean adoptees are now adults with families of their own and given rapid increases in the multiracial population. This qualitative study examined the cultural socialization beliefs and practices among transracially adopted Korean Americans who are parents of multiracial Asian-White children. Drawing upon interviews with 31 Korean adoptee parents (29 female; Mage = 41...

Adopted persons increasingly have turned to genetic testing to obtain health information or to search for birth family. The present study investigated psychological factors that may contribute to interest among adoptees and their parents in genetic testing for the adoptee, including adoptees' ethnic identity development, their thoughts or curiosity about birth family (birth family thoughts), and the interaction of these two factors. Data were drawn from the second wave of a longitudinal study, conducted in 2014, on transracially, transnationally adopted Korean American adolescents and their adoptive parents...

This study tested a web-based parenting course called FosterParentCollege.com (FPC) Culturally Competent Parenting (CCP) for transracial foster and adoptive parents. Research indicates that transracial children, whose parents practice culturally competent parenting, have positive outcomes. A mixed methods pretest posttest treatment and control group design were implemented to determine if there was a difference in parent scores on openness to cultural receptivity after completing the course in comparison to parents assigned the control group...

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...

In response to the growing trend of White parents adopting children from different racial backgrounds, and heeding the call for more research on adoption-related issues, the present study examined the relationship between perceived racial discrimination and mental health of 206 adult transracial adoptees adopted by White parents. In addition, the study examined adoptive parent racial socialization as a buffering variable in the perceived discrimination-mental health link. We hypothesized that racial discrimination experiences would be related to greater psychological distress and poorer psychological well-being...

The current study examined how discrimination relates to adjustment outcomes in a sample of internationally, transracially adopted Korean Americans from the Minnesota Sibling Interaction and Behavior Study (N = 456 adoptees; Mage at T1 = 14.9, Mage at T2 = 18.3, Mage at T3 = 22.3). The moderating roles of ethnic socialization and preparation for bias by parents (i.e., ethnic-racial socialization) were also examined. Results indicated that discrimination predicted higher levels of depressive and externalizing symptoms in youth who reported less preparation for bias...

OBJECTIVES: In a sample of transracially adoptive parents, this study examined the moderating role of adoption stigma in the relationship between their colorblind attitudes and their perceptions of different forms of discrimination. Specifically, we hypothesized that parents' colorblind attitudes would be negatively related to their perceptions of their adopted children's experiences with racism and their views toward racial microaggressions and institutional racism. We also hypothesized that perceived adoption stigma would moderate these relationships, such that the inverse association between colorblindness and the 3 outcome variables would be weakened by adoption stigma...

Parents raising children adopted from a different racial/ethnic group usually engage in cultural socialization-providing activities in adoptees' birth culture-hoping to instill pride and help adoptees develop a positive identity. Adoptive parents engage in a wide variety of socialization activities, yet adult adoptees have reported not having deep enough exposure from their parents. The present study explored the depth of cultural socialization in transracial adoptive families. Informed by Pinderhughes' Ethnic-Racial Socialization model, this study developed a continuum examining the depth in cultural socialization with three indicators: (1) the depth of cultural activities, (2) parents' motivation for cultural socialization, and (3) parental cultural attitudes...

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 [T1]) 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 T1 to T2, and the relationship among ethnic socialization by parents at T1 and T2, ethnic socialization by peers at T2, and ethnic identity exploration and resolution at T2...

Challenges in adoptive parenting continue to emerge as adoption policies and practices evolve. We review three areas of research in adoptive parenting that reflect contemporary shifts in adoption. First, we highlight recent findings concerning openness in adoption contact arrangements, or contact between a child's families of birth and rearing. Second, we examine research regarding racial and cultural socialization in transracial and international adoptions. Finally, we review investigations of parenting experiences of lesbian and gay adoptive parents...

We investigated 109 (79.8% female; 76% White, and 83.5% Heterosexual) mental health trainees' explicit and implicit attitudes toward heterosexual, lesbian, and gay White couples adopting and raising Black children. To determine explicit attitudes, we used a vignette depicting a Black child ready for adoption and three types of equally qualified White families who were headed by a heterosexual couple, gay couple, or lesbian couple. The trainees were asked to indicate which type of family they preferred to adopt the child...

Little is known on how transracial adoptees (TRA) navigate issues of race and ethnicity. Using Shared Fate Theory as a framework, this study was interested in the moderating role of adoption status among a group of ethnic minority adults in explaining the relationship between ethnic socialization, perceived discrimination, and mental health outcomes. Nonadopted (NA; n = 83) and TRA (n = 87) ethnic minorities responded to measures on ethnic socialization, perceived discrimination, and psychological outcomes administered online...

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of the current study is to test a recently established model of racial-ethnic socialization (Langrehr, 2014) among 2 samples of White transracially adoptive parents and to assess whether the proposed model functions similarly after accounting for adopted child race. METHOD: Based on a modified version of the Racial Bias Preparation Scale (Fisher, Wallace, & Fenton, 2000), confirmatory factor analysis was used to test the 3-factor model (i...

The collective findings of the six articles in this special issue highlight the importance of ethnic-racial socialization and ethnic identity among international transracial adoptees (ITRAs). A multidimensional developmental phenomenon, ethnic identity intersects with other identities, notably adoptive identity. Family, peers, community, and host culture are important socialization contexts that engage transracial adoptees in transactional processes that promote ethnic identity development. New directions in research were identified, including developmental processes in navigating ethnic and other identities, similarities and differences in ethnic identity between ITRAs and immigrants, the effectiveness of interventions targeting ethnic identity in ITRAs, and the impact of discrimination on ethnic identity construction and the role of social and national contexts...