Transracial Adoption and its Effect on Families
Introduction
Transracial adoption entails the act of placing a child under the care of the parents who claim a different ethnicity from that of the child being placed under foster care. In the U.S, interracial adoption occurs whenever parents claiming a white ethnicity adopt children of color or children such as African-American and Hispanic children. Also, interracial adoption may result whenever U.S citizens adopt children from other countries who practice a different culture from that of the United States and claim a different ethnicity. The act of transracial adoption has incurred a series of challenges over time, owing to concerns about racial and cultural differences between the foster parents and adopted children. Based on these differences, ‘ adoption got practiced on a racial basis upon which adoptive parents would only assume parenting roles for children with a similar background to their ethnicity. The move oversaw the increase of colored children within foster care since most adopting families preferred white children. To limit the impact of racial segregation in foster care homes, the U.S government developed regulation to ensure equality in adoption services by prohibiting adoption on a racial basis. Among these regulations include the Multiethnic Placement Act of 1994 that prevented discrimination against adoptees on racial, color, and nationality basis (U.S Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and families 4). Following the development of regulations undermining racial priority in adoption agencies, the country oversaw an increase in the number of interracial adoptions, which further changed the perspective of race matching in adoption processes. Although transracial adoption is growing and being widely adopted, many families who adopt still face various effects surrounding the whole process.
Functionalist Paradigm
The functionalist paradigm develops that society is made up of interconnected parts that cooperate to ensure harmony and maintain the social equilibrium of all community stakeholders. In particular, various parts of society develop influence on each other. Whenever society constituents create social stability, they generate a functional system that ensures the wellbeing of all societal stakeholders. On the contrary, a dysfunctional system develops whenever social factors generate undesirable consequences within the society (Monney, Knox &Schacht 2). In the presence of social dysfunction, measures get developed to ensure stability, which further helps attain the wellbeing of all society members. The paper develops a study on interracial adoption, outlining the application of the functionalist paradigm in its development.
History and Background of Transracial Adoption
Interracial adoption started following the Indian adoption project developed between 1958 and 1967. The project oversaw the assimilation of Indian children to the American society upon adoption from their reserved families by the whites in the community. The strategy was further advanced by child advocacy groups in the U.S to seek foster parents for orphaned African American Children (Lee 2). The move served as a means to ensure social stability by considering the welfare of vulnerable children within the society. However, the initiative to find the adoption of orphaned African Americans incurred rejection form the African American community outlining it as a move to erode their culture.
Similarly, native Americans challenged Indian children’s adoption based on racial and cultural differences. In this regard, the adoption system developed a dysfunctional system based on the challenges related to interracial adoption. To solve the developed challenge, the society developed the need to adopt children from similar races as the donors to prevents challenges related to racial differences. The move oversaw a decline in interracial adoptions within the U.S., more so the adoption of colored children. In return, the foster care centers incurred a high number of African-American, Asian-American, and Hispanic children owing to waiting for adoption. In line with the functionalist perspective, the U.S government developed regulations to ensure the equality of all children under foster care. The laws got designed to limit racial selection in the adoptive process, which would help connect colored foster children to permanent parents similarly to white children. The regulations further increased the number of transracial adoptions within the country. Among the rules include the Multi-Ethnic Placement Act passed in 1994, which prohibits adoption agencies from developing placement activities on a racial basis. Other regulation consists of the Interethnic Placement Act of 1996 that sought to strengthen the prior law and Adoption, and the Safe Families Act developed in 1997, which reduced the duration of a child could spend in foster care to two years. Under the Adoption and Safe Families Act, the U.S government sought to hasten the process of permanent adoption to foster children. Following the implementation of the developed regulation U.S witnessed a tremendous increase in the number of interracial adoptions where white parents adopt children of color and from different countries.
Challenges of Transracial Adoption
Transracial adoption generates various challenges within a family, adopting a child from a different race more so related to cultural and racial differences, which affect the adopted children. Among the critical challenges incurred by adoptees include discrimination from their peers and fellow family members. In relation, society and family members may fail to embrace the adopted child since he is attributed to a different race. The segregation further accelerates whenever parents fail to address racial discrimination by turning a color-blind attitude towards discriminative activities. Furthermore, adoptees incur the challenge of identity development. In particular, adoptees may fear to develop ethnic related topics with their parents to fit in their current families. In return, transracially adopted children develop an avoidant attitude towards their ethnicity to earn acceptance within their contemporary society (Hamilton, Samek & Lacono 5). In cases where children get adopted at a tender age, they might assimilate the identity assumed by their foster parents. The move overshadows their real identities, which further denies them the opportunity to uphold and seek pride in their origin. Also, parents adopting transracial children often conceal their identities to the rest of the community as a way to protect them from discrimination. In this regard, the parents undermine the race of the adopted children influencing their decision to adopt their racial identity. Lastly, adopted children often incur cultural assimilation owing to their constant involvement in the cultural practices of their parents (Shkandrani et al. 15). In relation, interracially adopted children learn the language, undertake meals, and listen to the music of their new society. Lack of connection to the culture practiced within their ethnicity oversees the erosion of the replacement of their culture with the new values presented within the foster parent community. Based on the outlined challenges, interracial adoption hinders the aspect of the functionalist perspective since the systems involved create instability by affecting the welfare of adopted children.
Conclusion
Adoption plays a crucial role in ensuring the wellbeing of children placed under foster care. In relation, adopting parents assume the responsibility to oversee the attainment of the best interest for children placed under their custody. In consideration, they are liable to offer support and ensure the stability of the adopted child. Following the increased will to help vulnerable children lead successful lives, people have enlarged their goodwill to embrace children from different cultures under transracial adoption. In relation, they adopt children from diverse cultures and incorporate them into their families. However, the move has generated a series of impacts related to racial differences between the adoptee and their parents. The challenges include racial discrimination, identity challenges, and cultural erosion. The effects generate instability since the welfare of the adopted child is not adequately attained. In return, the functional perspective demands the development of a system that will ensure the wellbeing of the children within the transracial adoption. The move further calls for the development of strategies to mitigate the effects related to transracial adoptions.
Regarding racial discrimination, foster parents should offer protection to their adopted children by demanding respect for their racial identities. In relation, adoptive parents should portray adopted children as part of their families and should ridicule any discriminative activity developed against their children.
Similarly, they should tell adoptees their nationalities and racial identities to make them aware of their background societies. Furthermore, they should outline the culture practiced in adoptee societies to prevent assimilation of their culture by their current communities. The implementation of the discussed procedures will help attain the wellbeing of children under the transracial adoption program, thus achieve the sociological paradigm of functional perspective.
Work Cited
Hamilton, E., Samek, D. & Lacono, W. “Identity development in a transracial environment: racial/ethnic minority adoptees in Minnesota.” Adapt Q, Vol. 18, No. 3, (2015). 217- 233.
Lee, Richard. “The transracial adoption paradox: History, research, and counseling implications of cultural socialization.” Counseling Psychology, Vol. 31, No.36, (2008). 711-744
Mooney, L. Knox, D. & Schacht. Understanding social problems: The three main sociological perspectives. United States: Thompson/Wadsworth. 2007. Print.
Skandrani et. al. “Cultural identity and internationally adopted children: Qualitative approach to parental representations.” PloS ONE, Vol. 10, No. 13, (2015). 10-19
U.S Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and families. Ensuring the best interests of children: Through Compliance with The Multiethnic Placement Act of 1994, as amended, 2020. Print.