The colour of family happiness: adoption and the racial distribution of children in contemporary France

Abstract

In France, the notion of ‘race’ – which echoes both (post‐)colonialist discourses and a long history of state‐regulated racism – is itself usually publicly inexpressible, despite its implicit presence that nonetheless saturates public debates. However, in some specific cases, such as transnational adoption, the verbalisation of racial preferences and desires is encouraged by social workers and family experts as a means to prevent racism. This article aims to analyse the kind of practical institutional framing that produces and supports such verbalisation, and to explore its consequences with respect to the definition of racial hierarchies. Hence, instead of considering the preference of skin colour as a pre‐established parental desire that informs the racial distribution of children, I suggest focusing on the French case to analyse the racialisation of familial desires produced by and for the apparatus that frames adoption. Thus, by concentrating on the governance of family intimacy, this article aims to question the social dynamics that construct race as a meaningful performative category requiring professional expertise and action, that allow its public expression and that even facilitate the verbalisation of racial preferences in an institutional context supposedly defined by colour‐blindness.

Façonner les intimités. Récit de soi et discours professionnels dans les parcours de candidat·es à l’adoption

“…La ratification de la Convention des Nations unies sur les droits de l'enfant de 1989 et de la Convention de La Haye sur la protection des enfants et la coopération en matière d'adoption internationale (signée le 29 mai 1993) ont amené le domaine de l'adoption, en Belgique comme dans la plupart des pays, à se structurer juridiquement et éthiquement autour de la notion de « l'intérêt supérieur de l'enfant ». Ce processus de « moralisation de l'adoption » a conduit à une forte réglementation de la procédure et des acteur•ices impliqué•es, correspondant à l'encadrement juridique et bureaucratique strict décrit par d'autres auteur•ices (Howell, 2006a(Howell, , 2006bRoux, 2017). Le cadre juridique de l'adoption a ensuite été uniformisé en Belgique par la loi du 24 avril 2003, faisant notamment de la pratique de l'adoption une partie de l'administration de la protection de l'enfance.…”

‘Are you paying for somebody else’s?’ The value of secrecy in the uses of DNA paternity tests in the USA

“…In France, where sperm donors’ anonymity has so far been maintained, those campaigning to lift it emphasise the substantial impact that secrets have on formation of self (Delaisi de Parceval 2006; Théry and Leroyer 2014). Within this current paradigm, where the subjects’ truth is to be found in their historical and biological past (Roux 2017b), few studies in the social sciences have examined the value of family secrets in the formation of subjectivities (Fonseca 2018). Family secrets are often considered in their ontological dimension – i.e.…”

Racial socialisation and negotiation of family mixedness among white parents of internationally adoptive children in France

“…The French sociohistorical context, on the other hand, has shaped the adoption debate in a totally different manner. France is largely considered a 'colour-blind' society (Brubaker, 1998;Sabbagh & Peer, 2008;Simon, 2008), and in studies of adoption, as elsewhere, the question of race is often replaced by that of 'culture' (Fortier, 2011;Marre, 2009;Roux, 2015Roux, , 2017). Yet a large majority of adopted children in France come from countries colonised by Europe in the past, and are very likely to be racialised as non-whites.…”

“…In France, while parents' adoptive capacities are ranked mainly on the basis of socioeconomic factors and social norms of 'good parenting qualities' (heterosexuality, youth, stability, etc.) (Ramos & Kertudo, 2014;Roux & Vozari, 2018), the desirability ranking of children operates largely along racial lines (Brun, 2019b;Roux, 2017). For many French adopters, children born in South America and East Asia represent a compromise between what is undesirable (children who are black, no longer infants, or have special needs) and what is unattainable (healthy white babies) (Brun, 2019b), as is also the case in the United States (Dorow, 2006a;Khanna & Killian, 2015;Perry, 1998;Raleigh, 2018;Sweeney, 2013;Zhang & Lee, 2011).…”