Since I was a little girl I always admired families that had adopted a child, and I knew in my heart that one day I would adopt too. As I am approaching the time in my life that I could potentially be starting a family and be ready to adopt a child, I have begun thinking about all of the things that it may entail and how to prepare for it. Although race has never been a deciding factor for me in the adoption process, I have for some reason always thought I would adopt a child of a different race. As I have grown and become more educated in terms of society and how race & culture plays a great role in a persons’ life, I realize that it is important to consider how a child’s life may be affect in both negative and positive ways if brought up
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The thing is that this process does not end once you gain custody of the adoptee. Children adopted from foster care are all very unique and may have experienced adverse situations at a very young age. Parents must be prepared to handle different emotional needs of these children especially throughout the transition phase. This is where a transracial adoption gets even more complicated than same-race adoption. Imagine being a child who has just come out of the foster care system to live with your new family and you do not look like them. According to the Journal of Black Studies, “parents who are racially conscious before adopting - appear to successfully infuse race into the child-rearing process for TRAs.” (Smith, 2011) A child that is trying to adjust to a new family and environment may already feel uncomfortable and have many questions so adding any other factors to that means that the parents need to be prepared to answer these questions and help their child adjust. Before bringing a child of transracial adoption home to your family, it is of upmost importance to educate yourself and your family members on that child’s culture so that you may encourage and help them embrace their ethnic background. One method of …show more content…
George Herbert Mead, the “father” of symbolic interactionism, would agree that this helps them with exploring and learning their identity. Elena VanderMolen explains her personal experience with this concept and others very well in her Journal, “Transracial Adoption and Sociological Theory: Understanding my Identity.” She states on page 57 of her journal, “A very important part of becoming a healthy adult is to have formed a sense of self.” Her story shows just how difficult it can be for a transracial adoptee to relate to people that are the same race them if they have not had social interactions with them. It is recommended that parents get involved in the discovery of one’s self by joining groups, having play dates, or attending church with a diverse group of people particularly one that has children the same age and race as the
The thing is that this process does not end once you gain custody of the adoptee. Children adopted from foster care are all very unique and may have experienced adverse situations at a very young age. Parents must be prepared to handle different emotional needs of these children especially throughout the transition phase. This is where a transracial adoption gets even more complicated than same-race adoption. Imagine being a child who has just come out of the foster care system to live with your new family and you do not look like them. According to the Journal of Black Studies, “parents who are racially conscious before adopting - appear to successfully infuse race into the child-rearing process for TRAs.” (Smith, 2011) A child that is trying to adjust to a new family and environment may already feel uncomfortable and have many questions so adding any other factors to that means that the parents need to be prepared to answer these questions and help their child adjust. Before bringing a child of transracial adoption home to your family, it is of upmost importance to educate yourself and your family members on that child’s culture so that you may encourage and help them embrace their ethnic background. One method of …show more content…
George Herbert Mead, the “father” of symbolic interactionism, would agree that this helps them with exploring and learning their identity. Elena VanderMolen explains her personal experience with this concept and others very well in her Journal, “Transracial Adoption and Sociological Theory: Understanding my Identity.” She states on page 57 of her journal, “A very important part of becoming a healthy adult is to have formed a sense of self.” Her story shows just how difficult it can be for a transracial adoptee to relate to people that are the same race them if they have not had social interactions with them. It is recommended that parents get involved in the discovery of one’s self by joining groups, having play dates, or attending church with a diverse group of people particularly one that has children the same age and race as the