Race in transnational and transracial adoption / edited by Vilna Bashi Treitler.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Bashi Treitler, Vilna, editor.

Series:

Palgrave Macmillan studies in family and intimate life

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Intercountry adoption.

Interracial adoption.

Interethnic adoption.

Race.

Ethnicity.

Physical Description:

xvi, 286 pages ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire : Palgrave Macmillan, 2014.

Summary:

When parents form families by reaching across social barriers (the color line, and/or the boundaries between 'First World' and 'Third World' nations) to adopt children, where and how does race enter the adoption process? How do agencies, parents, and the adopted children themselves deal with issues of difference in adoption? This volume engages writers from both sides of the Atlantic to take a close look at race in transnational and transracial adoption. The contributors interrogate how adoption agencies engage race online; how parents understand race as a factor in choosing and raising their adopted children; how culture camps engage with parents and children about racial issues; and how social policy shapes the racial aspects of adoption, for better or worse. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 Introduction: Race Is a Fiction...Coloring Children and Parents Nonetheless / Vilna Bashi Treitler Treitler, Vilna Bashi 1

What race is, and what race is not 2

Race and Adoption 3

Adoption as an index of vulnerability 6

Transnational adoption begins in a racialized climate 6

Aboriginals of the Americas and Australia 8

African American children, available and largely unadopted 9

A racialized market for 'Available' children 10

Adoptions as case studies in racialization 13

Shaping desire across adoption's color line 14

Colorblindness and race-awareness in adoption 18

Why we must talk about race in adoption, and outside of it 26

Notes 27

Part 1 Constructing Desire in the Adoption Market

2 Disability Is the New Black: The Rise of the 'Cleft Lip and Palate Program' in Transracial International Adoption / Elizabeth Raleigh Raleigh, Elizabeth, Barbara Katz Rothman Rothman, Barbara Katz 33

Introduction: the changing landscape of international adoption 33

The Study 35

Findings 36

The popularity of international adoption: healthy infants 36

'Our challenge for the future': making the age/race/health comparison in adoption 37

'A normal life': minor and correctable medical conditions 39

'The Cleft Lip and Palate Program' in China 43

Conclusion 45

Note 48

3 Race and Market Values in Domestic Infant Adoption / Barbara Fedders Fedders, Barbara 49

Introduction 49

Supply and demand in domestic infant adoption 50

Adoption in the United States: systems and laws 50

Race-based marketing in adoption 53

Black Children in the adoption system 54

Slavery, the Black family, and adoption 55

Black children in the child-welfare system and transracial placements 55

The multiethnic placement act: rhetoric and reality 56

The high cost of race-based fee structures 59

Conclusion 62

Notes 62

4 Changing Ethnicities? Changing Paradigms? The Adoption of Black and Minority Ethnic Children in England / Derek Kirton Kirton, Derek 70

Background 70

Reforming adoption and promoting the transracial 72

The Narey report and the coalition government 73

Ethnicity and adoption in the UK: changing contexts 76

An anti-multiculural turn? 78

Adopation of BME children in the UK: time for a change? 80

5 The Commodification and Online Marketing of Children in Transnational Adoption / Elizabeth Hunter Milovidoc Milovidoc, Elizabeth Hunter, Vilna Bashi Treitler Treitler, Vilna Bashi 84

Senders and receivers 85

Racialization, inequality, and adoption 95

Adoption's child marketing tools: photolistings and web advertisements 95

Web Advertisements 98

Photolistings 100

Does Internet use in adoption provide evidence of a new racial imperialism? 104

Notes 109

6 'Someone's Roots': Gender, Rape, and Racialization in Korean American Adoption Narratives / Sandra Patton-Imani Patton-Imani, Sandra 112

Background 112

Methods and positionality 116

Race, rape, and colonization 118

Mail-order Asian girls 121

Birth-Mother-Self imaginaries 125

Conclusion 129

Notes 129

Part II Constructing Ethno-Racial Identities in Adoption

7 Adoptive Parents e-Racing Adopted Children by Choosing Keeping, Avoiding and Purchasing Identity / Pamela Anne Quiroz Quiroz, Pamela Anne 133

Introduction 133

Adoption, identity, and the ne racial structure 134

Using virtual ethnography to study racial assignment and cultural socialization 138

Choosing identity 143

Avoiding identity 147

Keeping identity 149

Purchasing identity 150

Adoptive parents 'doing' identity and creating neoethnics 152

Notes 153

8 Safely 'Other': The Role of Culture Camps in the Construction of a Racial Identity for Adopted Children / Lori Deale-O'Connor Deale-O'Connor, Lori 155

Introduction 155

Background 156

Data and methods 158

Camp overview 158

Hands around the globe culture camp 159

Ikids culture camp 160

Analysis 161

Camps as producers of identity 163

Identity as an accessory 165

Conclusion 167

Notes 168

9 Producing Multiculturalism: Family Formation through Transnational Adoption / Kazuyo Kudo Kudo, Kazuyo 169

Introduction 169

Theoretical discontinuities between multiculturalism and race 171

Methods and data 175

Agencies' multicultural and multiracial curriculum 177

Multicultural and multiracial education: a workshop for adoption professionals 178

The organization of training sessions 179

Agency in a Small City (ASC) 179

Agency in a Major Metropolitan Area (AMMA) 180

Agency's role as specialist on building multicultural families 181

The adoption agencies' dilemma: multiculturalism and racism 182

Incorporating racism into a discourse of multiculturalism 184

Transcending race? How agencies articulate multiculturalism 185

Discussion and conclusion 188

Notes 189

10 Culture at Camp: White Parents' Understanding of Race / Carla Goar Goar, Carla 190

Introduction 190

Theoretical framework 191

Colorblind ideology 191

Race consciousness 192

Background 193

Transracial adoption 193

Culture camps 195

Methods 195

Findings 196

Colorblindness at camp 196

Consciousness at camp 199

Discussion and conclusion 202

Note 203

11 'Acting White' and 'Acting Black' Exploring Transracial Adoption, Middle-Class Families, and Racial Socialization / Colleen Butler-Sweet Butler-Sweet, Colleen 204

Race, class, and transracial adoption: a literature review 205

Racial identity formation 205

The transracial adoption debate 206

The importance of class 207

Methods 209

Participants 209

Procedure 209

Measures 210

Findings 211

Straddling the line between race and class socialization 211

'Acting white' and 'acting black' 214

Feeling thankful for family 218

Discussion and analysis 219

Conclusion 224

Note 225

12 Becoming a 'Chinese-American' Parent: Whiteness Chinese Cultural Practice, and American Parents of Children Adopted from China / Amy E. Traver Traver, Amy E. 226

Theoretical framework 227

Data and methods 228

Whiteness and Parents' 'Chinese-American' identificatications 229

Participation in Chinese cultural events organized by Families with Children from China (FCC) 230

Consumption of Chinese cultural objects for display in the home 233

Development of relationships with Americans of Chinese heritage 236

Discussion and conclusion 239

Notes 240

13 Conclusion: Talking About Race and Adoption / Nicole Soojung Callaham Callaham, Nicole Soojung 242

The persistent myth of 'colorblindness' in adoption 242

Problematic framings of transracial adoption 243

Challenges for transracial adoptees and their parents 244

Learning from the experiences of transracial adoptees 246

Note 247.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781137275226

1137275227

OCLC:

873725263