Adoption, Transracial

Policy of allowing parents to adopt a child or children of a different race or ethnicity. The practice of transracial adoption has and continues to be the focus of debate, studies, and legal challenges.

One of the most controversial types of transracial adoption has involved cases in which Caucasian parents have adopted an African American child. Such placements occurred in large numbers during the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. For years, however, this practice has been the topic of lively debate and research. Some critics of the practice question whether African American children are able to develop healthy racial and cultural identities when they are raised within a Caucasian family structure.

Some African American social work professionals have viewed transracial placements as a form of cultural genocide, in which the child's African American culture is lost because of being raised in white culture. The term cultural genocide was first coined years ago when Native American children were placed outside of their tribe, family, and culture, into the homes of Caucasian families.

In 1972, the National Association of Black Social Workers (NABSW) stated that African American children should be placed only with African American families, whether in foster care or adoption. The NABSW asserted that, by doing this, African American children would receive a total sense of themselves and their culture and would develop a sound projection of their future as a minority in a predominately white culture. The NABSW also added that a child's cultural heritage is an important part of his or her socialization and must begin at the earliest stages in the child's development. Without it, the social workers argued, the African American child may not have the background and knowledge necessary to survive in a society that could be hostile and racist.

After the NABSW issued its opinion paper on transracial adoption in 1972, it fueled debate that involved lawyers, the U.S. Congress, foster parents, and prospective adoptive parents. This highly charged debate went on for the next three decades. During the 1970s, 1980s, and early 1990s, race matching was used regularly when considering placing an African American child in an adoptive home. It seemed, for the most part, that transracial adoption was being considered only as a last resort.

During that time, people who supported transracial adoption conducted investigations and studies on its effects on the children raised by racially different parents. Most of these studies indicated that African American children adjusted well in adoptive homes where the family was of a different race or ethnicity. Some studies suggested that the child's age at adoption had more impact on his or her development than the transracial adoption itself. Some supporters concluded that African American children reared by Caucasian parents fared no worse than African American children adopted within their race.

Congress entered the transracial adoption debate when it passed the Multiethnic Placement Act (MEPA) in 1994. Among the areas this act sought to address included decreasing the length of time children would wait to be adopted. It also sought to prevent discrimination in the placement of children on the basis of race, color, or national origin. The MEPA also stated that agencies that discriminated against prospective adoptive parents based on those criteria would not receive federal funds. The Interethnic Adoption Provisions amended MEPA in 1996.

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