1. Transracial Adoption Issues in Latinx Transracial Adoptees
Presented by: Helen Shih
Clarify transracial adoption, clarify Latinx

2. Why I have a personal interest in transracial adoptees...

3. Why I have a professional interest in transracial adoption...
Assessment adoptions social worker; assessment adoptions intern when I wrote this thesis; talk about prior experience

4. What my personal and professional experience taught me...
Parents who adopt transracially often have the best of intentions.
Parents who adopt transracially are often ignorant about aspects of adoption and transracial adoption.
2: loss, loss of racial, cultural, ethnic community

5. What Existing Research Tells Us About Transracial Adoptees’ Experiences
Experiences of isolation are not uncommon.
Some transracial adoptees experience marginalization in their own homes.
Racial/cultural/ethnic socialization is a protective factor, but difficult to get right.
Parental communication about difference was often insufficient.
Transracial adoptees are resilient
So TRA was natural choice for my thesis
I began with background research. Background research showed that this ignorance has consequences...
End: What it doesn’t tell us: about the experience of Latinx transracial adoptees

6. Why? Everyone, including adoptive parents, has implicit biases
Multi-Ethnic Placement Act and Interethnic Placement Act*

7. My Study
Purpose:
Learn more about the experiences of Latinx transracial adoptees.
See if their experiences are consistent with the existing literature.
Participants:
3 women, 20s- 30s
1 recruited from Pact
2 from online groups
2 Peruvian, 1 Colombian
All adopted into White, middle-class + families

8. My Study
Procedure:
Conducted semi-structured interviews via video chat
Transcribed interviews
Highlighted significant statements
Clustered statements
Identified themes
Broad overview of procedure

9. The following themes emerged:
Isolation and Confusion
Exploration and Reconnection
Adoption Insight 3 1 2
Findings; Commonalities in all three participants’ experiences; Explain the themes relation to each other
Also subthemes...will be introduced in the following slides

10. Isolation and Confusion Subthemes
Lack of ability to express transracial adoption related needs as children
Lack of support in forming meaningful connections with their cultures of origin as youth
Read quotes from index cards

11. Exploration and Reconnection Subthemes
Reconnection with birth families and birth countries
Engagement with other transracial adoptees
Read quotes from index cards

12. Adoption Insight Subthemes
Belief that adoptive parents need more transracial adoption education
Meaning making (each participant found ways to make their adoption related challenges meaningful)
Read quotes from index cards

13. Implications for Social Work
Knowing what we know, social workers can take steps to reduce isolation and confusion among transracial adoptees.
Past research, my reserach which fits in with past resarch

14. At our county departments of social services, we help form families via transracial adoption every day...
Are we doing so responsibly?
What can we do to help the transracial adoptees have better experiences than the subjects in my study and previous studies?

15. What I have observed...
Our handling of transracial adoption varies tremendously from worker to worker because we don’t enforce any blanket policies for promoting education for parents adopting transracially.

16. Q: How Can We Make Practical Positive Changes?
A: Better education for parents interested in transracial adoption.
Note: we are limited by MEPA/IEPA...could start with voluntary trainings perhaps

17. What should parents know before adopting transracially?
LOVE IS NOT ENOUGH
Parents’ biases must be examined
Parents need to be prepared to help children navigate experiences of otherness
RACE AND CULTURE MATTER
Adoptees’ should be actively, meaningfully exposed to their cultures of origin
Differences should be celebrated, not minimized

18. Limitations and Future Research
Limited number of participants
Participants were all international adoptees
Class effects not examined

19. “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

20. Questions? Comments?

21. Thank you!