Ethnicity and Placement: Beginning the Debate

Abstract

This article is based on an interview with John Small by Guest Editor Beverley Prevatt Goldstein during the Fourth International Conference of Caribbean and International Social Work Educators, which took place in Jamaica in July 1999. Small played a key role in the recruitment of black carers, which, with its focus on the importance of identity, contributed to the radical shift in the ideological base of British social work practice from the early 1980s. After a brief introduction by the Editor, he reflects on these issues, both in the light of the pioneering work carried out by black activists at that time and the challenges for those engaged in family placement work today. In conclusion, Prevatt Goldstein comments on the interview and the relevance of Small's position in the 21st Century.

Determining the Design of Child-Specific Adoption Advertisements: A Conjoint Analysis

“…Accordingly, advertisements for children with records of bad behaviour should be angled to appeal to potential adopters who do not have children of their own and should appear mainly in mass-market 'low-brow' media (certain tabloid newspapers, for instance) relevant to less well-educated individuals. The finding that white and mixed-race respondents were more open to the possibility of adopting a child from a different ethnic background to themselves than were people of African or African-Caribbean ethnic heritage matches the outcomes to previous investigations of this particular matter (see Ballantyne 1996;Small & Goldstein 2000;Sargeant 2003). It reinforces the argument of those who suggest that many homes could in fact be found for black children in white and mixed-race households (see Small & Goldstein 2000;Clifford et al 2003;Hill 2003).…”

“…The finding that white and mixed-race respondents were more open to the possibility of adopting a child from a different ethnic background to themselves than were people of African or African-Caribbean ethnic heritage matches the outcomes to previous investigations of this particular matter (see Ballantyne 1996;Small & Goldstein 2000;Sargeant 2003). It reinforces the argument of those who suggest that many homes could in fact be found for black children in white and mixed-race households (see Small & Goldstein 2000;Clifford et al 2003;Hill 2003). The ethical and political dimensions of transracial adoption are beyond the scope of the present paper.…”

“…[1] This legislation mandated local authority adoption services to give due consideration to a child's race, language, religion and culture when seeking a placement. The Act reflected 1980s anxieties that transracial adoption stripped ethnicminority children of their racial identity, leaving them maladjusted and unable to cope with racism and discrimination (see Kelly 2000;Small & Goldstein 2000). As a consequence, placements of ethnic-minority children with white families fell from 71% of all ethnic-minority adoptions in 1984 to 24% in 1996 (DH 1999).…”

Matching, Ethnicity and Identity

“…It is suggested that BME adoptive parents are able to nurture and provide a context for nurturing resilience against racism, in contrast to a placement with some white adoptive parents that potentially may not be able to do so (Small, 2000). This is because the psychosocial elements that are viewed as helping to produce a positive ethnic and cultural identity, such as personal experience of racism and preparedness to deal with discrimination in the wider community, may not be available to some white adoptive parents bringing up trans-ethnically placed children (Hollingsworth, 1997;Rushton and Minnis, 1997).…”

“…A positive black identity can also enhance the development of resilience to experiences of racism in wider society (Small, 2000). In transethnic placements, the fostering of a positive ethnic identity may be more complex and challenging to achieve, which can result in the adopted child reaching adulthood and feeling ambiv alent about their identity (Gill and Jackson, 1983;Vroegh, 1991;Silverman, 1993).…”