Racialized Choices: Chinese Adoption and the `White Noise' of Blackness

Dorow, Sara

doi:10.1163/156916306777835277

Cited by 30 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…Black children, Dorothy Roberts (2002, p. 159) argues, are the "least likely to be adopted." Interviewbased research has shown that many international adoptive parents prefer oversees adoptions precisely because young, healthy, non-African American children are available (Dorow, 2006b;Jacobson, 2008;Kim, 2008).…”

Section: Adoption Decision Makingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Framing Adoption

Jacobson

2013

Journal of Family Issues

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How is international adoption framed in the popular press? Do those framings shape adoption decision making? Using a multimethod approach of content analysis of newspaper reportage and in-depth interviews with international adoptive parents, this article examines the past two decades of popular press stories on international adoption and explores links between media frames and adoption decision making. Findings reveal that, although the majority of media frames on international adoption are negative, variations exist depending on the sending country profiled. Reportage on Russia adoption consists of more negative frames, whereas China adoption is more likely to be framed positively. These differences in media framings on Russia and China, the two most popular countries for international adoption into the United States from the mid-1990s to the mid-2000s, emerged in adoptive parents' narratives of adoption decision making.

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Section: Adoption Decision Makingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Other factors contribute to the decision to pursue an overseas placement instead of a domestic one; in particular, race and age (Dorow, 2006b;Jacobson 2008;Kim, 2008). The desire for a non-African American infant strongly shaped many participants' decisions to adopt from oversees.…”

Section: "Dangerous" Domestic Placementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Framing Adoption

Jacobson

2013

Journal of Family Issues

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“…In her recent study, for example, Dorow (2006a) analyzes how China‐U.S adoption ‘unsettles’ and ‘reproduces’ racial hierarchy. She argues for the importance of ‘the American imaginary of China and its relationship to the black‐white binary’ when considering race in the adoption of Chinese children into white families (Dorow 2006a: 358). More specifically, black children have become ‘the constitutive outside’ to foreign Asian children (Dorow 2006a: 360).…”

Section: Triangulating Race: Reifying Racial Hierarchymentioning

confidence: 99%

Desirable Difference: The Shadow of Racial Stereotypes in Creating Transracial Families through Transnational Adoption

Kubo

2010

Sociology Compass

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The article analyzes how parents decide to adopt a child transnationally by detailing how the meaning of race is articulated in the formation of family. Drawing from my interviews with adoptive parents, I examine how they internalize ideas about different racial groups. For example, I investigate how what they have learned from the adoption agencies, their own perceptions of racial stereotypes, and their perceptions of the communities in which they reside influence their understanding of race. The article suggests that adoptive parents, when considering whether to adopt children from the U.S. or overseas, use a criteria dictated by racial stereotypes in understanding Asian Americans as the model minority, African-Americans as a deficient group, and Latinos occupying an intermediary position.

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“…Empirical research suggests that White adoptive parents often take a colour-blind approach to transracial adoption, believing that race will not be an issue for their children (Taylor & Thornton, 1996). This colour-blind -if wellmeaning -approach to racial/ethnic minority children may allow some parents to overlook potential challenges their children will face (Dorow, 2006).…”

Section: The Transracial Adoption Debatementioning

confidence: 99%

The Intersection of Multiple Minority Identities: Perspectives of White Lesbian Couples Adopting Racial/Ethnic Minority Children

Richardson

Goldberg

2010

ANZ J of Family Therapy

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In order to analyse the salience of race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, and adoptive status for lesbian adoptive parents, this study examined the challenges and strengths described by 20 White lesbian couples (40 women) who were adopting racial/ethnic minority children from within the United States. Data from two time points (pre‐ and post‐adoptive placement) were analysed qualitatively. Results indicated that the majority of women voiced concerns about raising racial/ethnic minority children in a ‘White privileged’ society. Many women reported facing a lack of understanding from others and were aware of multiple layers of stigma. However, having faced discrimination themselves as sexual minorities, many also perceived themselves as possessing unique strengths (e.g., experience coping with stigma). Many women expressed feeling that by drawing on support from their communities as well as their own awareness of and experience with diversity issues, they could prepare their children for the challenges they might face.

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Racialized Choices: Chinese Adoption and the `White Noise' of Blackness

Cited by 30 publications

References 13 publications

Framing Adoption

Framing Adoption

Desirable Difference: The Shadow of Racial Stereotypes in Creating Transracial Families through Transnational Adoption

The Intersection of Multiple Minority Identities: Perspectives of White Lesbian Couples Adopting Racial/Ethnic Minority Children

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