In 1991 a study was conducted using 916 respondents to find attitudes towards transracial adoption.
. 71% of those surveyed believed that race should not be a factor in who should be allowed to adopt a child. However, those respondents in a highest age category, such as 64 or older, were 63% less likely to approve of transracial adoption, compared to the younger age category. African-American women were 84% less likely than African-American men to approve of transracial adoption. Caucasian men were 72% less likely to approve.
The importance and practice to considering transracial adoptions, and having transracial populations is discussed. Areas of consideration areas follows: Background, History and Controversy, Previous Studies of Attitudes towards transracial adoption, Purpose and Rationale, Methods, Procedures, Results, Bivariate Anaylsis (a study using charts and tables), Multiple Logistic Regression Analysis (all categories are considered which may also include two or more groups), Discussion (the results of the studies), and the outcome of all the areas of consideration. Adopting children of another race raises many questions because of the background of the child. Adopting a child of another race is of special interest, and should be carefully considered.
Many questions regarding the background of minority children need to be answered before following through with an interracial adoption. For instance, Should minority-group children be adopted by parents of another race? Can the parents provide the racial and ethnic identity that children need to cope with racism? Are cultural experiences and racial identity important to the well being of a child? Are these children better off than they would be if left to live in the foster-care or institutional system? Does placing the child with the same race discriminate against the child? Will these children experience any long term disadvantages if adopted outside their race. As the study shows, many questions should be answered before considering a transracial adoption. In 1972 the National Association of the Black Social Workers opposed adoptions of another race. This issue expanded efforts among adoption practitioners and policymakers to bring about more same-race adoptions.
Then, in the 1980s, efforts increased by transracial adoption advocates to remove race and ethnicity as considerations. Results of experiential studies have varied and are often surrounded by limitations. Previous studies show that people in the United States are divided evenly between those who approve of transracial adoptions and those who do not. These findings have been consistent in samples using people that were racially mixed. The studies also show that different Countries have mixed results when the studies are done. Mexican-American respondents with higher incomes were more likely to anticipate identity conflicts when adopting children from another race.
Age had a significant influence in Canada especially in older than 65 years of age. This age group was more likely to strongly disagree with transracial adoption than younger persons in Canada. In another study (country not given), sex, age, education, income, and occupation were not an issue. Results of this study from 916 respondents provide a practical view of the attitudes towards transracial adoption. There are several assumptions that exist in this area and more studies need to be done with different age groups and from different countries as well.
These public studies are especially important since the development of public policies towards transracial adoption tends to be influenced by public opinion.Bibliography:
