Adoption, Transnational/Transracial

Identity and cultural heritage are often crucial to the self-esteem and personality development of many American children. This is particularly important for children from minority racial and ethnic classifications. Children who are of the same racial classification as their adoptive parents but of a different ethnic group can also be affected, such as European American parents transnationally adopting a child from Russia who is racially classified as white or Caucasian, but ethnically Russian.

The practice of placing children with prospective adoptive parents who are not of the same race is called a transracial adoption (TRA) or transracial placement. TRA in the United States is older than the nation itself. In 1492, Christopher Columbus kidnapped and adopted a Native American boy, who later became his translator and guide.

TRA in America predominantly involves the adoption of black children by white parents. There are extremely few, if any, documented cases of black parents adopting white children. However, the phenomenon of blacks serving as foster parents for white children is slightly more frequent. The one-way nature of TRA is demonstrated not only by the lack of adoptions of white children by black parents but also by other nonwhite parents and even by interracial or biracial couples.

The first documented modern TRA occurred in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1948. TRA gained momentum in the mid-1950s and then declined in the early 1960s. However, with the civil rights movement in the mid-1960s, there was another rise in the number of TRAs. This trend continued until the early 1970s, when vocal opposition began to cause a decline in the practice.

The question of whether white parents should adopt black children has been the subject of momentous debate in social work and child development literature. The discussion was initiated by a position paper drafted by the National Association of Black Social Workers (NABSW), which vehemently opposed placing black children with white families and referred to this placement as a form of “cultural genocide.”

A 1972 groundbreaking and controversial NABSW position paper decrying TRA set the tone for more than two decades. In an attempt to adhere to NABSW preferences, adoption agencies nationwide enacted and enforced same-race placement policies. As a result, the number of TRAs dropped drastically nationwide. By 1987, despite a higher percentage of black children in foster care, the number of TRAs had increased only slightly since the 1970s. In fact, even when including international adoptions, TRAs currently account for only about 8 percent of all adoptions in the United States.