ABSTRACT

This paper reports Phase II findings of an exploratory study of 26 families who have adopted children with Asian heritage, where at least one parent is Asian American. In-depth interviews provided a rich exploration of parents’ motivations to kin through adoption, the ways in which race and ethnicity factored into their child-selection preferences (if at all), their assumptions about their ability to create kinship bonds with an adopted child, and strategies for racial and ethnic socialization. The themes of approximating or performing family and inconspicuousness were repeated by parents when they considered how race and ethnicity factored into child-selection preferences and their assumptions about creating kinship bonds. The adoptive parents in this study were measured and nuanced in weighing the role of race and ethnicity for Asian adoptees, but the implicit strategies of modeling, mentoring, and intergenerational transmission were described less as strategies, and more about belonging and being a part of an extended tribe that was more authentic because of a shared identity as Asian Americans. Ultimately the question of whose interests are being served when race and ethnicity are considered has been dynamic and shifting throughout adoption history. This study sought to contribute in a small part to moving the conversation beyond the polarized Black-White racialized paradigm and provides direction for further research.

摘要

本文报告了对26个收养亚洲裔儿童的家庭进行的探索性研究的第二阶段结果，其中至少一名父母是亚裔美国人。深入的访谈对父母通过收养来建立亲属的动机，种族和种族如何影响其选择子女的偏好（如果有的话），他们对与被收养的孩子建立亲属关系的能力的假设进行了丰富的探索。 ，以及种族和族裔社会化策略。亲近或表演家庭和不起眼的主题父母在考虑种族和种族因素如何影响儿童选择偏好以及他们关于建立亲属关系的假设时，反复问过这些问题。在本研究中，对收养父母进行了衡量和细化，以权衡种族和族裔对亚洲被收养者的作用，但建模，指导和代际传播的隐性策略被描述为策略，而更多地是关于归属感和作为其一部分的策略。扩展部落由于与亚裔美国人有共同的身份，所以这种说法更为真实。最终，在考虑种族和种族时，谁的利益受到关注的问题一直是动态的，并且在整个收养历史中一直在变化。这项研究试图在很小的程度上推动对话超出极化的黑白种族化范式，并为进一步的研究提供方向。