Monday, Aug 5th, 2013
By Sarah Armstrong & Lynelle Beveridge, 2002.
27 adoptees tell their stories.
Excerpt from Summary
“ The largest single factor in whether a transracial adoption is viewed as positive by the adoptee appears to be the adoptive family’s attitude to the child’s race and their commitment to maintaining a positive sense of the child’s racial identity. This cannot be manufactured; it must be real. The adoptees whose parents made a “token” gesture towards embracing their birth culture were not assisted to a positive sense of racial identity. This was only achieved in families who truly adopted the child’s culture when they adopted the child, and made continuous efforts to develop the child’s pride in their race and in their appearance. These families were able to talk about the differences between the child and the other family members in a positive way. They were able to talk about the adoption and the possibility of future contact with the birth family. The birth family were real people with a real place in the child’s past and present life.”