Racial and Ethnic Identity of Transnational Adoptees: A Model Reflecting the Lived Experience of Adult Colombian Adoptees

Abstract

International and transracial adoptions have been practiced by multiple developed countries since World War II, where transracial adoptees are removed from their country of origin and raised by parents of a completely different cultural and racial background. In the United States, adoption was institutionalized after the Korean War, making adoption across races a common practice. This demographic change brings different developmental challenges to the transracial adoptee, including the task of racial and ethnic identity. In this dissertation study, the authors dived into the narratives of six Colombian transracial adoptees raised in the United States by White parents to understand their stories regarding their racial and ethnic identity process. The authors’ findings include the development of a racial and ethnic identity model that emerged from the participants’ themes and common lived experiences, including five nonlinear stages: questioning and curiosity; action-seeking behaviors; judgment and expectations; reculturation and reclaiming; and wanting to embrace both identities. Adult Colombian adoptees highlighted the fluidity of their racial and ethnic identity process and the importance of reclaiming and reconnecting with their Colombian part of self as part of this process. The ethnic and racial identity model informs mental health professionals’ clinical and professional practice by offering a guide to comprehending the process and some of the common experiences around ethnic and racial identity among transracial adoptees.