In “Out of Sorts: Adoption and (Un) Desirable Children” by Katherin M. Flower Kim, Kim presents how racism influences and affects the decisions within the adoption process among white parents in the United States. In the recent years, adoption has become increasingly popular among those who would like to start a family with children and either are unable to do so themselves or would like add a child in need of a family. Issues arise when certain races of children become more desirable than others and children as well as parents are placed on waiting lists. Kim interviewed a group of 43 mothers along with 30 of their husbands, who all but one identified as white, had adopted children from Korea between the 1980’s and 1990’s. She used the data
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Kim states that to understand how these preferences for white or “white-looking” children over African American children, we must first understand that the majority of parents who adopt using formal, legal adoptions are white and are typically experiencing fertility issues. This is not to say that African American parents do not adopt or use formal, legal adoptions. Many African American families use “kinship adoptions” which are not labeled as legitimate adoptions by the legal system, but are an important part of family life in African American …show more content…
A stigma is a negative perception of a person, place, thing or idea. Many everyday stigmas are that all Muslims are terrorists or that everyone with depression tries to commit suicide. One parent named Molly, believed that it would be hard for her and her husband to adopt an African American child, even as an infant, because of the stigmas associated with African Americans. “In this case, race had a specific meaning for Molly. “African American” was understood as a set of distinct (gendered) cultural practices i.e., acting like a “boy from the hood”” (Kim 2007:377). Even knowing that she could adopt a perfectly healthy, African American baby at a lower cost and quicker rate, Molly believed that even though she raised the baby from infancy, it was predetermined to be a “boy from the hood”. Not only did Molly believe that race would affect her child’s behavior, she would have to be entered into a whole new
Kim states that to understand how these preferences for white or “white-looking” children over African American children, we must first understand that the majority of parents who adopt using formal, legal adoptions are white and are typically experiencing fertility issues. This is not to say that African American parents do not adopt or use formal, legal adoptions. Many African American families use “kinship adoptions” which are not labeled as legitimate adoptions by the legal system, but are an important part of family life in African American …show more content…
A stigma is a negative perception of a person, place, thing or idea. Many everyday stigmas are that all Muslims are terrorists or that everyone with depression tries to commit suicide. One parent named Molly, believed that it would be hard for her and her husband to adopt an African American child, even as an infant, because of the stigmas associated with African Americans. “In this case, race had a specific meaning for Molly. “African American” was understood as a set of distinct (gendered) cultural practices i.e., acting like a “boy from the hood”” (Kim 2007:377). Even knowing that she could adopt a perfectly healthy, African American baby at a lower cost and quicker rate, Molly believed that even though she raised the baby from infancy, it was predetermined to be a “boy from the hood”. Not only did Molly believe that race would affect her child’s behavior, she would have to be entered into a whole new