Smith, J. F. (1996). Analyzing ethical conflict in the transracial adoption debate: Three conflicts involving community. Hypatia, 11(2), 1-33.
Problem statement
The social problem that prompted me to search the existing literature is racism. A person is said to have been subjected to racism when he is discriminated against because of their color (REFERENCE). Racism is one of the factors that is threatening the process of biracial adoption. Most biracially adopted children have been subjected to racism in their families, in the neighborhoods, and in learning institutions (REFERENCE). The children that are subjected to racism get traumatized, and that affects their development. As a result, many parents, especially African Americans, are against African American children getting adopted into white American families. In American society today, racism is becoming a major issue. Even though all people of color are subjected to racism in the United States, African Americans to huge have suffered the negative impacts of racism (REFERENCE). Also, African Americans believe that when their children are adopted into white families, they will be taught new ways of life contrary to their cultures. This means that adopted African American children risk losing their cultural identity. That is why I had to review the existing literature to determine how the concept of racism is affecting the process of biracial adoption.
From my analysis of the existing literature, I realized that the previous research did not consider the necessity in determining how a white family can raise a black child successfully considering the aspect of overall health and happiness. The problem is that we don’t know the factors that need to be considered by white families to develop biracially adopted children by shaping their identity development successfully.
Purpose of the study
The purpose of this study is to examine how the experience of transracial adoption shapes the identity development of biracially adopted children. Also, how the adoptive parents supported the adoptee through the process of adoption will be examined in this study. Generally, the study will give a clear picture of adoptive families’ strengths and their support systems. This study was guided by one research question, which is, “How does the experience of transracial adoption shape an adoptee’s identity development and how do adoptive parents support him or her through that process?” The study was guided by the fact that each child’s experience in a white family is unique. Therefore, to understand how transracial adoption affects identity development, the practitioners must strive to understand individual experiences with transracial adoption. That is why the study sought to subject various participants to questionnaires that have been prepared about biracial adoption. The participants will be asked questions such as “whether the greatest source of support in the process of identity development came from their families.” This will the research understand the level of involvement of the adoptees’ families in transracial adoption. Other questions that research participants were subjected to are available in the appendix section.
Conceptual framework
The conflict theory supports my study. The conflict theory suggests that due to limited resources in society, society is in a state of perpetual conflict as various groups of people seek to dominate others by accumulating a lot of resources. The idea behind conflict theory can be used to explain the conflicts that exist in the process of biracial adoption. As earlier explained, Biracial adoption is used to describe the process by which a parent from one race is placed with a child from a different race. Normally, the biracially adopted children, especially the children of color, face a lot of rejection and are discriminated against by neighbors who are white Americans. This is because white Americans perceive the biracially adopted children as a threat to their resources. This results in conflict between the biracially adopted children and the white Americans who live around their locality. Also, the African American parents are in a conflict with the state as well as the white Americans in the United States. This is because African Americans believe biracial adoption erodes African culture since the biracially adopted children are brought up being taught the American culture. African Americans want biracial adoption to be stopped, but biracial adoption is a legal process in the United States. The United States government is showing no signs of making the process illegal, and that is not going down well with African Americans. This shows that all the stakeholders involved in the process of biracial adoption are in a conflict.
Significance
This study is significant because the results of this study will aid professionals in the sound decision-making process of transracial adoption. Also, the social workers will find the basis of educating and supporting families commencing the process of transracial adoption, and even those that are continuing with the process. As previously highlighted, transracial adoption is relevant to the whole society and the social profession. The reason behind this is that biracial adoption is highly debated.