Adoption

Adoption is a term that refers to the legal and permanent union of children and parents who are not biologically related. Asian adoption refers to the adoption of Asian children, most commonly across international borders and by parents who are not Asian. Today, the practice is on the rise as more white Americans choose to adopt across racial lines and from abroad. China and Korea are at the forefront among all countries of origin, but other Asian countries that have a significant adoption history in the United States include India, the Philippines, and Vietnam.

Asian adoption can be traced back to the Displaced Persons Act of 1948 and the Refugee Relief Act of 1953, which enabled approximately 7,000 mostly war-orphaned children from Korea, Japan, and China to be adopted by white American couples. Since then, the number of Asian children adopted by Americans has grown tremendously and gone well beyond these modest beginnings. In fact, the practice has become a potent symbol for racial progress and tolerance, so much so that multinational corporations such as IKEA, Morgan Stanley, and even heartland favorite Walmart have showcased white parents with their Asian children to demonstrate their multicultural sensitivities.

Until recently, Korean adoption was practically synonymous with Asian adoption. Korea dominated the international adoption picture for decades, Asian or otherwise, because of positive media coverage and word of mouth by adoptive families encouraging others to follow suit. In 1955, Harry and Bertha Holt, a white evangelical couple from Oregon, launched a trend by adopting eight Korean War orphans.

[Page 26]Since that time, more than 165,000 Korean children have been adopted worldwide, with conservative estimates of more than 103,000 in the United States alone. Figures vary from year to year in response to modifications each country makes to its policies, but the latest data shows Korea ranking fourth among counties of origin behind China, Ethiopia, and Russia, according to the U.S. Department of State. Despite not being in the top spot since the 1990s, there are still more adoptees from Korea in the United States than any other sending country because of how long the trend has been in practice, report Mia Tuan and Jiannbin Shiao.

While Korea is arguably the pioneer of Asian adoption, China is clearly its present and future. A relatively recent addition to the international adoption world, China has dominated since the mid-1990s. Approximately 77,500 children arrived in the United States between 1992 and 2010, with the vast majority being girls Describe Richard Tessler, Tuan, and Shiao. In speculating on the reasons behind the country's rise, some scholars have suggested that China's one-child policy, combined with changes in adoption laws and a general cultural preference for sons, makes international adoption a reasonable solution for dealing with the country's problem of abandoned children. Others have taken a more critical approach and focused on local and transnational politics, global inequalities, and the impact of interest groups in China and abroad that have shaped the practice Diana Marre, Laura Briggs, and Barbara Yngvesson explain.

An Asian child after her adoption by American parents in the1940s. Approximately 7,000 mostly war-orphaned children from Korea, Japan, and China were adopted by white American couples after the passage of the Displaced Persons Act of 1948 and the Refugee Relief Act of 1953.

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