ROWENA FONG AND RUTH G. MCROYMORE THAN 30 YEARS AGO, Deborah Silverstein and Sharon Roszia (1982) explained the lifelong impact of adoption as follows:
Adoption is a lifelong, intergenerational process which unifies the triad of birth families, adoptees and adoptive families forever … all triad members, regardless of the circumstances of the adoption or the characteristics of the participants. (Silverstein & Kaplan, 1982)
Lifelong processes accompany the adoption journeys for adopted persons, adoptive parents and families, and birth parents involved in transracial and intercountry adoptions. Silverstein and Roszia (1982) identified the core issues for adopted persons, birth parents, and adopted parents as follows: loss, rejection, guilt and shame, grief, identity, intimacy and relationships, and control and gain (see the table). Throughout the years, the existence of intense and unresolved emotions surrounding grief, loss, guilt, shame, rejection, control and gain, and intimacy and relationships most likely continue to exist. The circumstances causing these emotions and the manifestation of these emotions, however, may have changed in the past three decades. For example, in countries such as China, the cultural values of shame and “loss of face” (Fong & Wang, 2000) would have been a major deterrent disallowing a Chinese couple to leave a child in an orphanage, hospital, or police station because children are so highly valued because of the expectation that children care for their elders. But since 1979, the single-child policy of China has forced couples to rethink the valuing of a child, especially if he or she has a disability (Johnson, 2012). This population limitation policy has resulted in males—who traditionally are more highly valued than females in Chinese culture—also to be abandoned. Thus, Chinese birth parents have not been able to be openly unified with their biological child and have suffered shame and loss of face for abandoning highly valued sons. Birth parents, adopted children, and adoptive parents all continue to face challenges of loss and shame, as well as other core issues related to intercountry and transracial adoptions. Problems with rehoming, the private practice of adoptive parents to place their adopted child via Internet and social media outlets into a new adoptive home without legal assessment or oversight, may be reflective of the current challenges faced by adoptive parents and children that would encompass many, if not all, of the core issues of adoption (see table).
Seven Core Issues of Adoption
| |
ADOPTEE |
BIRTH PARENT |
ADOPTIVE PARENT |
| 1. Loss |
• Fears ultimate abandonment
• Loss of biological, genetic, and cultural history
• Issues of holding on and letting go |
• Ruminates about lost child
• Initial loss merges with other life events
• Leads to social isolation
• Changes in body self-image
• Relationships losses |
• Infertility equates to loss of self and immortality
• Issues of entitlement lead to fear of loss of child and overprotection
|
| 2. Rejection |
• Placement for adoption as a personal rejection
• Can only be “chosen” if first rejected
• Issues of self-esteem
• Anticipates rejection
• Misperceives situations |
• Rejects self as irresponsible and unworthy because she permitted the adoption
• Turns these feelings against self as deserving of rejection
• Comes to expect and cause rejection |
• Feeling of being ostracized because of procreation difficulties
• May make partner the scapegoat
• May expel adopted child to avoid anticipated rejection
|
| 3. Guilt and Shame |
• Feels deserving of misfortune
• Ashamed of being different
• May take defensive stance
• Anger
|
• Party to guilty secret
• Shame and guilt for placing child
• Feeling of being judged by others
• Double bind: Not okay to keep child—not okay to place him |
• Ashamed of infertility
• May believe childlessness is a curse or punishment
• Religious crisis
|
| 4. Grief |
• Grief overlooked in childhood or blocked by adult leading to depression and acting out
• May grieve lack of “fit” in adoptive family |
• Grief acceptable for only a short period
• Grief may be delayed 10 or 15 years
• Lacks rituals for mourning
• Sense of shame blocks grief work |
• Must grieve loss of “fantasy” child
• Unresolved grief may block attachment to adopted child
• May experience adopted child’s grief as rejection |
| 5. Identity |
• Deficits in information about birth parents, birthplace, and so on may impede integration of identity
• May seek identity in early pregnancies or extreme behaviors to create a sense of belonging |
• Child as part of identity goes on without knowledge of self and self-worth
• May interfere with future parental desires
|
• Experiences a diminished sense of continuity of self
• “Role handicap”—I am a parent/I am not a parent
|
| 6. Intimacy and Relationships |
• Fears getting close and risking reenactment of earlier losses
• Concerns over possible incest (e.g., with an unrecognized sibling)
• Bonding issues may lower capacity for intimacy |
• Difficulty resolving issues with other birth parent may interfere with future relationships
• Intimacy may equate to loss
|
• Unresolved grief over losses may lead to intimacy and marital problems
• May avoid closeness with adopted child to avoid loss
|
| 7. Control and Gains |
• Adoption alters life course
• Aware of not being a party to initial adoption decisions, in which adults made life-altering choices
• Haphazard nature of adoption removes cause-and-effect continuum |
• Relinquishment seen as an out-of-control, disjunctive event
• Interrupts drive for self-actualization
|
• Adoption experiences lead to “learned helplessness” in which sense of mastery is linked to procreation
• Lack of initiative
|
In reexamining these seven core issues, some of the challenges may remain the same, but some of these challenges now may be different for triad members in inracial, transracial, and intercountry adoptions.
1. Loss Issues: All triad members suffer losses. But in cases in which adoptions are closed and do not promote or allow openness in contact or communication among triad members, ambiguous loss can become an even greater issue for triad members. According to author Pauline Boss (2000), when there is no verification of death, ambiguous loss freezes the grief process and prevents closure. Boss offers six guidelines for resiliency in a cyclical model: (a) finding meaning, (b) tempering mastery, (c) reconstructing identity, (d) normalizing ambivalence, (e) revising attachment, and (f) discovering hope (see chapters 9 and 10).
2. Rejection Issues: Disruptions and dissolutions in transracial and intercountry adoptions tend to heighten the rejection issues for all triad members. But in the issue of rehoming, in which illegal activities occur while placing a child in another adoptive home, rejection reoccurs without supports for resolution (see chapter 2).
3. Guilt and Shame Issues: Guilt is the feeling of responsibility with remorse about an offense committed, whether real or imagined whereas shame is the feeling of an improper act done by oneself or another. Cultural values associated with shame to self and family complicates the healing for triad members affiliated with those ethnic cultures (see chapter 7).
4. Grief Issues: Grief is associated with the healing of loss, but resolution toward grief issues are complicated in cases of rehoming, child abduction, and child laundering. (see chapter 2).
5. Identity Issues: Identity is the fact of being who one is. Historically, identity issues referred to concerns about the lack of knowledge about oneself (e.g., medical history). Currently, however, identity seems to be focused more on how to put together the multiple entities on knowing who one is, as an individual adopted person, and for the adoptive family to know how to be and function as a transracial family (see the introduction and chapters 4, 6, 7, 8, and 9).
6. Intimacy and Relationship Issues: Historically, these issues focused primarily on the relationship, or lack thereof, with the birth parents (see chapters 1, 3, and 5). Currently, intimacy and relationships focus on maintaining the connectedness to family via kinship care and sibling placements. Either through formal or informal kinship adoption, the goal is to keep the adopted person connected to the birth family for the sake of identity and relationships to birth relatives (see the introduction).
7. Controls and Gains Issues: Historically, these issues were related to the concern about lack of awareness or information or participation in knowledge and decision making, Currently, the control and gains issues are more seriously affected by fraud and coercive practices related to abduction and child sales (see chapter 2).
These seven categories of core issues might remain the same in transracial and intercountry adoptions but present more complexities and challenges for parents and professionals.
The approaches, guided by theoretical frameworks, need to be reevaluated to handle the complex and multiple traumas triad members often face. Historically, attachment theory was the primary theory associated with adoptions. But intersectionality is another appropriate and useful theory that is developed from feminist theory and involves the process of integrating multiple identities. In several chapters, the authors mentioned the need for the intersectional lens (chapter 4) with gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered families; intersecting identities in ethnic identity formation chapter 6), intersectionality in school settings where multiple identities are interconnected (chapter 9). In addition, other theories, discussed in chapter 6, which are useful for understanding identity, include the bicultural identity integration model related to ethnic identity formation and the need to scaffold the child’s identity. These concepts, the intersectionality of identity and the scaffolding identity, also seem applicable not just to the adopted person but also to the adoptive family and all of its family members. Becoming a transracial family with all family members fully agreeing and understanding its implications in adopted person connected to the “culturally competent person but also to the adoptive family and all of its family members. Becoming a transracial family
More research is needed to continue to expand our knowledge and understanding of transracial and intercountry adoptions and to develop innovative and evidence-based practices, policies, and resources (Schwartz et al., 2014). We acknowledge, support, and respect families who make the choice to adopt children who may have been abandoned, abused, or traumatized through institutional care or multiple moves in foster care and who also come from a different cultural or racial background than the parents (Hanna, Tokaski, Madera, & Fong, 2011). It is essential that supports are in place to increase parenting success and to make a commitment to these families to facilitate and strengthen the family unit through the availability of culturally and adoption-competent clinicians, educators, and others who can promote positive outcomes for these parents and children (McGlone, Santos, Kazama, Fong, & Mueller, 2002). Future suggested directions and recommendations include the following:
Intercountry Adoptions
1. Enforce Hague Intercountry Adoption Act (HCIA) policies despite country of origin, limited resources, and child protection capacity to foster a solid partnership and practices to promote ethical intercountry adoptions.
2. Develop both ethical and efficient systems in addressing the problem of the slowdown of the adoption process while children are languishing in institutional care or encountering other difficult circumstances as they wait for an adoptive placement.
Transracial Adoptions
1. Recruit a diverse pool of potential foster and adoptive parents who can meet the needs of these children, given the overrepresentation of African American children in the child welfare system and in keeping with one of the provisions in the Multiethnic Placement Act (MEPA).
2. Provide training for adoption staff to be not only knowledgeable but also both adoption and culturally competent in keeping within the MEPA’s requirements.
3. Develop strategies for agencies to adequately prepare transracial adoptive families and provide adoption-specific supports to help families address the significance of racial and cultural identity for their adopted children and to find ways to help them feel more connected to their heritage and identity (Vonk & Angaran, 2003).
Gay and Lesbian Adoptions
1. Use culturally responsive approaches to working with lesbian and gay families, often referred to as “gay-affirmative” or “lesbian- and gay-affirmative” practice models as recommended, such as the Expanded Family Life Cycle model developed by McGoldrick, Carter, and Garcia-Preto (2010).
2. Work with lesbian and gay populations and acquire an understanding of both the “normative” developmental and life-cycle issues that individuals, couples, and families face as well as the unique issues experienced by those with diverse orientations, identities, and expressions.
Neurodevelopmental Perspectives and Trauma
1. Provide attention, enrichment, nurturing and developmentally informed early intervention services to help the vast majority of institutionalized children to make significant developmental progress.
2. Use special education services as they remain needed as indicated for previously institutionalized children many years post-adoption, despite post-adoption gains in cognitive functioning.
3. Help children learn about their country and culture of origin because it is important, as is allowing and encouraging peer and mentor relationships with other children who share similar racial, cultural, or ethnic backgrounds as the adopted child (Ortega & Faller, 2011).
4. Decrease stress on the entire family system by family members becoming equally interested in learning about; respecting; and, in some cases, adopting their child’s cultural norms and traditions, even if the child is still learning those norms and traditions.
Ethnic Identity Formation
1. Seek opportunities for ongoing self-reflection, which should be viewed as a critical foundational task and process in which adults (parents and professionals) engage, and examine attitudes and beliefs about cultural and racial differences.
2. Communicate about adoption, in keeping with the child’s developmental stage.
3. Balance multiple identities, while considering the importance of balancing family identity with supporting the development of children’s multiple identities.
4. Emphasize preplacement and postplacement training or group-based supports or professional consultation for families.
Medical
1. Offer preadoption counseling and advice, which are key to addressing challenges that should be anticipated, so families are prepared to meet a child’s likely needs.
2. Assess comprehensively a child’s status after arrival. This involves attention not only to medical issues but also to the psychological processes involved in incorporating a child successfully into the family.
3. Inform parents of the necessity to enculturate and racialize their children.
4. Remain vigilant to help identify problems that may appear at key developmental horizons or advancing age.
School
1. Create environments inclusive of many kinds of families, including multiracial and nontraditionally formed families.
2. Strive for equity for all students, particularly with students with differing needs and experiences.
3. Pay attention to attrition rates for students of color or special education needs.
4. Have faculty and administrations be open to hearing from experts within the adoption community about the sensitivities of adopted children and their needs, creating adoption-sensitive educators who incorporate adoption content and resources into the curriculum.
5. Ensure that school environments with students with different capacities and challenges are valued equally.
6. Prioritize research on transracial and international adoption and the impact on school settings; in particular, focus on research that promotes evidence-based teaching strategies and interventions that inform and lead to adoption-competent practices in the school.
Adoption-Competent Mental Health Professionals
1. Help families locate an appropriate culturally competent therapist who has the knowledge, training, and skills to effectively treat international and transracial adoptive families.
2. Prepare and support transracial and intercountry adoptive families to deal with problems related to loss and grief, attachment, and trauma history as well as parenting a child of a different race.
3. Promote awareness for families and clinicians to know about effective therapeutic approaches, such as psycho-education for parents, trauma-informed treatments (such as trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy), group therapy, or the W.I.S.E. UP Powerbook, a clinical tool to help families prepare their children for managing the challenge of adoption-related questions and comments.
Mental Health
1. Develop clinical applications based on theory that are specifically designed to effectively treat adoption-related mental health issues for all adoption stakeholders, including those affected by transracial or international adoption.
2. Conduct rigorous research to develop evidence-based best practices in the treatment of mental health issues that have been developed and specifically validated with transracial and international adoptees, birth parents, and adoptive families.
3. Develop and implement comprehensive adoption-competency training programs for clinical practitioners-in-training and all clinical practitioners, including education and awareness training regarding attitudes and judgments about adoption that contribute to the stigma that accompanies adoption.
4. Design and implement empirical research that more effectively and fully accounts for and identifies the racial, cultural, and other disparities that are hallmarks of transracial and international adoption.
5. Conduct research with birth families of color and international birth families whose children were adopted transracially or internationally to best understand the mental health issues that affect these families.
CONCLUSION
This book on transracial and intercountry adoptions calls for the development of and implementation of more research, training, evidence-based practices, and policies related to transracial and intercountry adoptions. Evidence shows that the seven core issues of adoption persist in these types of adoption, but expanded culturally competent practices are needed because of the complex issues involved in the intersections of ethnicity and race, sexual orientation, religion, physical abilities, and country of origin, which affect all triad members and their families. Training for adoption-competent professionals is necessary for all workers in child welfare, school, medical, mental health, and legal settings servicing individuals and families in transracial and intercountry adoptions. A multisystems approach is necessary to connect all helping professionals to understand common concerns, hopefully share information, and understand the necessity for cultural competent practice and cultural humility in servicing children and families experiencing transracial and intercountry adoptions. Additional research is still needed about the following: issues affecting birth family relationships or lack of relations with adopted persons; ethnic identity formation and the impact that the adoptive family and sibling relationships have on identity development; and the impact of the HCIA, MEPA–Interethnic Adoption Provisions, and Indian Child Welfare Act legislative policies. The complex needs of transracial and intercountry triad members are great, but multiple efforts and strides toward improvement are occurring, as evidenced in this book.
1. What kinds of theoretical frameworks are associated in working with children, youth, and families in transracial and intercountry adoptions?
2. What recommendations are there for professionals who work in schools, medical, and mental health facilities when they service children and youth who have been adopted through transracial and intercountry adoptions?
3. Give examples of using a multisystems approach in working with children, youth, and families experiencing transracial and intercountry adoptions.
REFERENCES
Boss, P. (2000). Ambiguous loss: Learning to live with unresolved grief. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Fong, R., & Wang, A. (2000). Adoptive parents and identity development for Chinese children. Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment, 3, 19–33.
Hanna, M., Tokaski, K., Madera, D., & Fong, R. (2011). Happily ever after? The transition from foster care to adoption. Adoption Quarterly, 14(2), 107–131.
Johnson, K. (2012). Challenging the discourse of intercountry adoption: Perspectives from rural China. In J. L. Gibbons & K. S. Rotabi (Eds.), Intercountry adoption: Policies, practices, and outcomes (pp. 103–118). London, England: Ashgate Press.
McGlone, K., Santos, L., Kazama, L., Fong, R., & Mueller, C. (2002). Parental stress with adoptive parents. Child Welfare, 81(2), 151–172.
McGoldrick, M., Carter, B., & Garcia-Preto, N. (2010). The expanded family life cycle: Individual, family, and social perspectives (4th ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Ortega, R. M., & Faller, K.C. (2011). Training child welfare workers from an intersectional cultural humility perspective: A paradigm shift. Child Welfare, 9, 27–49.
Schwartz, A., Cody, T., Ayers-Lopez, S., McRoy, R., & Fong, R. (2014). Post adoption support group: Strategies for addressing marital issues. Adoption Quarterly, 17(2), 85–11.
Vonk, M. E., & Angaran, R. (2003). Training for transracial adoptive parents by public and private adoption agencies. Adoption Quarterly, 6(3), 53–62.