Blog Post 5- Transracial Adoption (MY)

          I never thought much about transracial adoption until I encountered it on a trip to Tanzania. As part of the trip, we volunteered at an orphanage. Upon arrival, I instantly grew an attachment with a baby boy name Nestory. For the rest of the week we were inseparable. As funny as it sounds, I immediately wanted to adopt Nestory and bring him home with me. However, I was informed that adoption was not common with this particular orphanage and transracial adoption was out of the question. Heartbroken, I managed to understand the reasoning: these children were thoroughly educated on their history, culture and language. The daily routines consisted of reminders of who they are. For instance, before every meal a four year old would say grace, which to my amazement was the Tanzanian song. One could tell that this orphanage wanted to keep their religion and culture alive by not partaking in adoptions, specifically transracial adoptions.

I have a hard time deciding where I stand on this topic. First of all, I believe that transracial adoption does indeed secure the child’s best interest because these children could possibly be living a harder life. To me, the idea of any type of parents is better than no parents. These parents who participated in transracial adoptions are well aware of the consequences and yet, they took the chance. Although they may not be able to teach their children about their native culture or help deal with the racism, there is the foundation that “’love’ and the swift placement into a stable family are the key factors in a child’s development” (pg. 4). From my own experience, I know parents who are active in their child’s culture by encouraging them to learn the language or attending cultural events. I think the results are more positive as the children are well-rounded in other cultures.

Secondly, Jane Jeong Trenka, Julia Chinyere Oparah, & Sun Young Shin (2006) mentioned a claim made by some scholars and social workers that “transracial adoption damages children of color, leading to low self-esteem, identity crises and difficulty relating to their communities of origin” (pg. 4). As this may appear true, I also want to point out that this issue does not only affect adoptees; it is an issue among all minorities. For instance, most minorities face either the “too white” for these people or “too Black, Asian, Hispanic, etc…” for these people. This claim cannot be put just against transracial adoption because all minorities will have an identity crisis regardless of what skin color their parents are.

                In addition, the discussion on racial microaggressions by Mia Tuan and Jiannbin Lee Shiao (2011) is quite interesting. Racial microaggression is described as “situations in which minorities are pulled out of the moment because their race has become salient” (p. 141). This issue is similar to what we learned about with “Silent Racism’ and it extremely affects one’s self-identity, as one can see with the example of Caleb. I have also encountered these situations and, honestly, there is not much one can do. Minorities will face racial microaggressions regardless if they are adopted by white parents or born in America. Therefore, I think the idea that transracial adoption results in a loss of self-identity is not only an effect on them, but again on most minorities.  

                In contrast, I also understand why these authors reason that transracial adoption violates the best interest of the child. Although, I argued that all minorities face self-identity crisis, I also have to acknowledge that the adoptees may have it harder because they have no one to help them realize who they are. As much as I hated my mother’s lectures and strict rules, I am thankful for it because I have learned a lot about my culture and who I am. This is not to say that they are extremely clueless, and struggling, but it is harder for most of them.

                Furthermore, in my culture our main religion is Shamanism however this is slowly diminishing as people have converted to Christianity. (I am not opposed to this at all, however….) This has always made me question what would become of my culture if everyone converted. I know my analogy of religion is a different matter than transracial adoption, yet to me it holds the same purpose as to why the orphanage in Tanzania does not allow adoption. In some way my religion is why I understand how the Indian Child Welfare Act was passed in 1978 or why the National Association of Black Social Worker's (NABSW) is against white adoption of black children. The idea that a culture or language could be lost or forgotten is probably where people find it hard to accept transracial adoption. With this being said, I am still unsure as to where I stand and I may never know. 

-          MAI NHIA.

Trenka, J. J., Oparah, J. C., & Shin, S. Y. (2006). Introduction. Outsiders within: Writing on Transracial Adoption. Cambridge: South End Press.

Tuan, M. & Shiao, J. L. (2011). Choosing ethnicity, negotiating race: Korean adoptees in America. New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation