What are the experiences of Black transracial adoptees who are raised by White parents in North America?

Abstract

Transracial adoption can be defined as the legal placement of children into the care of families from a different racial background. While some transracial adoptees have reported feeling grateful for opportunities to learn about different cultures and to explore the benefits of belonging to multiple cultural groups, this practice has also been heavily scrutinized because it has the potential to erase an adoptee’s birth culture and history when the child is assimilated into their adoptive family. The extant literature suggests that Black adoptees who are raised by White parents have distinct needs and experience unique challenges with regards to racial and cultural development. The purpose of the present study is to address three gaps that have been identified in the literature: the lack of research about transracial adoptee perspectives, absence of research about Black adoptees who are raised by White parents in North America, and missed opportunities to use critical race theory to understand the experiences of transracial adoptees. This study was developed to answer the following research questions: 1) What are the experiences of Black adoptees who are raised by White parents (or a parent) in North America?, and 2) If Black adoptees have encountered discrimination and/or racism, how do they perceive that their adoptive parent(s) responded to these experiences? Constructivist grounded theory was used to develop a theory to conceptualize the experiences of a sample of Black adoptees who were raised by White parents, and to understand their interactional dynamics. The data collection and analysis phases occurred simultaneously and included theoretical sampling, data coding, memo-writing, the constant comparative method, and theory development. Critical race theory was used to critique the extant literature, identify key themes that could be further investigated during the data collection process, and offer a comparative perspective to the new theory that is grounded in the data. The present study included seven Black transracial adoptees between the ages of 20 and 57 years old who participated in semi-structured interviews. The novel theory that was grounded in the data highlighted that transracial adoptees experience a lifelong process of reconciling conflicting emotional and racial-cultural experiences, and healing from adversity by developing a sense of self-worth, identity, and belonging through education, self-awareness, and relationships. This developmental and non-linear learning process involves an evolution of thoughts and emotions as adoptees heal from adversity and develop their self-worth, sense of belonging, and cultural and racial identities through social interactions and internal mechanisms.