People who were adopted into families with different racial, ethnic, or cultural backgrounds have unique experiences with forming their racial and cultural identity. Resources in this section capture the perspectives of those who have been adopted into racially and culturally diverse families.
Code Switch: Transracial Adoptees on Their Racial Identity and Sense of Self [Podcast]
Demby & Meraji (2018)
NPR
Captures the perspectives of several people who were adopted into households of different racial, ethnic, or cultural backgrounds and the experiences they had when forming their own identity and connecting to their birth culture. The speakers share that most of their adoptive parents lacked the training and awareness necessary to help them form their own racial identity in childhood.
The Personal Is Political: Racial Identity and Racial Justice in Transracial Adoption
Kim (2018)
Adoptalk, 3
North American Council on Adoptable Children
Shares the perspective of a Korean woman who was adopted as a child into a white family and did not fully develop her racial or cultural identity until adulthood. The resource offers concrete ways for adoptive parents to help their children embrace their identity, address personal mindsets, and advocate for further racial justice.
Transracial Adoption: Hearing From Families [Video]
Adoptions Together (2015)
Explains why discussing race in adoption is an important component of helping children settle into their new adoptive families.
Transracial Parenting
FosterClub (2016)
Explores the experiences and insights of former youth in foster care who were placed in transracial foster homes. The young people discussed the cultural differences and challenges they faced after placement.
Transracial Resources
North American Council on Adoptable Children (2019)
Offers blogs, videos, websites, and other resources written and develop by transracial adoptees about their experiences being adopted and growing up in a family with a different racial or cultural background.
Transracial & Transcultural Adoption: Preservation, Policy, and a Personal Perspective
Oberdorfer (2019)
Presents the experience of a woman adopted into a transracial family and then later raising a transcultural family. The author provides questions for families who are interested in transracial adoption to ask themselves, as well as questions adoption professionals should consider when working with children and families of different racial and cultural backgrounds.
What Adoption Can Teach the World
Offers writings, videos, a podcast, and information on an adoption mentoring program developed by April Dinwoodie, a person who was transracially adopted and former chief executive of the Donaldson Adoption Institute.