Positive and Negative Aspects of Transracial Adoption: An Exploratory Study From Korean Transracial Adoptees' Perspectives

Participants, 92 Korean-born transracial international adoptees, responded to two open-ended questions designed to explore both positive and negative aspects of transracial adoption. Almost all of them reported experiencing both benefits and challenges, suggesting that transracial adoption is more complex than the polarized “success or failure” paradigm that underlies much of the transracial adoption research. Participants described negative features that are consistent with themes in the extant literature, including racism, alienation from their White families and peers, unfamiliarity with Korean culture, and identity confusion. They also described positive aspects that have been less frequently explored, such as greater learning and awareness and advantages of belonging to multiple cultures. Of interest, facets that some adoptees considered to be positive aspects of transracial adoption were considered by others to be negative aspects.     

The Past and Present Cultural Experiences of Adopted Korean American Adults

This study used a mixed-method approach to examine the past and present cultural life experiences of Korean adult adoptees. Open-ended responses across four developmental periods (childhood, adolescence, young adulthood, and adulthood) were qualitatively analyzed and categorized into seven categories of cultural activities. We then quantitatively investigated the relationship between these domains and ethnic identity. Ethnic identity was positively correlated with only cultural experiences from young adulthood. The practical relevance of the research findings to adopted adults and adoptive families is discussed.     

Potential Selective Responding in a Parent Questionnaire Study of Post-Institutionalized Children

This study assesses selective responding in a single wave of data collection and a four-wave study. Participants were 121 parents of post-institutionalized children, identified as “never responders,” “previous responders,” or “wave 4 responders.” Parents evaluated their adopted child's family, school, peer, and behavioral adjustment. Children (47% male) were 2 to 20 years old (M = 10.79, SD = 4.59) and adopted between 5 and 54 months of age (M = 15.49, SD = 9.94). Within a single wave of data collection, no evidence suggested that selective responding contributes much bias. Over a multi-wave study, however, results may under-represent adjustment difficulties.     

The International Adoption Experience: Do They Live Happily Ever After?

This study presents the perspective of parents who adopted children internationally and their now adult adopted children regarding the impact of international adoption on their lives. Areas explored include adaptation of the child and family, challenges experienced along the way, influence on various aspects of their lives, parent-child relationship, rewards and regrets associated with the adoption experience, recommendations for those considering international adoptions, and an adjective that would describe their journey. The outcome illuminates the success of international adoptions and the life-changing bond that is formed when parents and children transcend all boundaries to form a family to call their own.     

Adult Adoptees as Partners and Parents: The Joint Task of Revisiting the Adoption History

Adoption is unanimously considered a lifelong process, but adulthood and parenthood are life cycle stages that up to now have been explored only marginally. The principal aim of the present study is twofold: first, to analyze whether and how parenthood might lead the adoptee and his/her partner to reinterpret the adoption history and, second, to verify whether the attitudes of the two partners concerning adoption are similar or complementary. Thirty-four couples consisting of one adopted and one non-adopted partner, now parents, were interviewed and a graphic instrument, the Double Moon Test, was administered. Results revealed that most couples showed a shared attitude in valorizing both the origin background and the adoptive family. However, in a number of cases a divergent position emerged, highlighting the crucial role of the non-adopted partner in encouraging the adoptee to revisit his/her adoption history. Overall, the practical relevance of the research findings is discussed and future direction of research are suggested.     

Cultural Identity and Place in Adult Korean-American Intercountry Adoptees

ABSTRACT

This study explores the interrelationship between cultural identity and place in the lives of adult Korean adoptees living primarily in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota. Using life histories derived through multiple semi-structured interviews, a web of related themes emerged which reveal the interplay between ethnicity, identity, gender, and place. From childhood to adulthood, most Korean adoptees followed a similar developmental trajectory of denial, self-awareness, and emerging cultural consciousness about their Korean heritage, particularly upon their departure from their adoptive homes after high school. These journeys were mediated and nuanced by environmental factors including -but not limited to -places adoptees lived or visited in Korea, the U.S. or elsewhere abroad. This study highlights the limitations of previous studies that focused only on adoptive parents or adoptees as children, an approach which loses the life course perspective of inter-country adoptees' search for identity, belonging, and a sense of home.     

The Developmental Progression of Transracial Experiences among South Korean Adoptees: A Review of the Literature

Thorough examination of the literature revealed no comprehensive reviews detailing the experiences of South Korean–U.S. adoptees as transnationally adopted persons. To address this need, multiple databases, keywords/keyword combinations, and fugitive literature were used. Data from the review were coded, categorized, and analyzed, with five themes emerging: (1) intrusive interactions, (2) boundary management, (3) discrimination and exclusion, (4) difficulties in identity development, and (5) ethnic exploration. These themes seem to fall along a developmental path from childhood through young adulthood. Understanding these experiences may be useful for formulating policy, structuring adoption services and clinical practice, and research design.     

Communicative Openness About Adoption and Interest in Contact in a Sample of Domestic and Intercountry Adolescent Adoptees

Adolescent intercountry (n = 122) and domestic (n = 40) adoptees and their adoptive parents were asked about their views on communicative openness. The adoptees were also asked for their thoughts on birth parents and contact. A modest association between communicative openness and feelings about adoptive status and self-esteem was found. Girls were more interested in many aspects of their adoptions than boys. Compared with the situation at 11 years of age, there was greater parent-child agreement on whether the child had difficulties talking about adoption. Nevertheless, at age 15, children were still nearly twice as likely to report difficulties talking about adoption issues than their adoptive parents realized. At the age of 15, the majority of the adoptees expressed a desire for contact with birth relatives, but this was a reduction from the numbers at age 11. They also reported finding it easier to talk about adoption issues than they did at the age of 11. The implications for policy and practice are discussed.     

Anxiety Among an Australian Sample of Young Girls Adopted From China

This study aims to contribute to the body of knowledge about post-adoption functioning of international adoptees by examining patterns of anxiety among young children adopted from China by Australian families. The study had two objectives: to examine anxiety in children adopted from China comparing this sample to available normative data and to examine the associations among child anxiety and child (e.g., age at adoption) and parent (e.g., age, education level) factors. Parents of 59 children adopted from China completed online a number of measures of child anxiety, temperament, and parent psychological well-being. Results indicated a high prevalence of anxiety symptoms among the adopted children when compared with available data from normative samples, particularly related to separation contexts. A number of factors, including inhibited temperament and younger age of parents, were associated with child anxiety. Clinical and research implications are discussed.