Transracial Child Adoptions

The information below will help you if you are interested in adopting a child of a race or ethnic group that is different than yours.

In a trans-racial or trans-cultural child adoption you will be adopting a child that is of a race or ethnic group that is different than yours.  In the U. S. trans-racial or trans-cultural child adoption usually refers to the placement of a Black, Hispanic, Asian child or a child from another country with U.S. Caucasian adoptive parents.

Historically the citizens of many countries have been, and continue to be, more open to and accepting of transracial and transcultural adoption than are U.S. families.  Additionally, many adoption agencies and adoption professionals in the U.S. have resisted placing children in transcultural and transracial situations.

Psychologists, social workers, and other adoption experts have no consistent professional view on transracial and transcultural adoption.  At one end are adoption professionals who believe that a child should always be placed with a family where both members, or at minimum one parent, should be of the same race or culture as the child.   On the other side are adoption experts who say that race should not be considered at all when selecting a family for a child. To them, a loving family that can meet the needs of a particular child is all that matters.  Currently there is no data that convincingly supports one position or the other.  As mentioned earlier, you will have to check with each adoption agency and adoption professional you contact to see how they view this issue and to see if they will work with you on a transracial or transcultural adoption.

The number of transracial and transcultural adoptions has been increasing and will probably continue to increase both in the U.S. and in other countries.  While an individual or couple may choose a transracial or transcultural adoption for a variety of reasons, there are several causal factors that apply in many cases.  First is the decreasing numbers of young Caucasian children available for adoption.  While the available of young and healthy Caucasian children has decreased, adopting persons have found that they may be able to adopt a young and healthy child of a different race and/or culture with only a limited waiting period.

The upswing in transracial and transcultural adoption may also be the result of the fact that many countries and U.S. child adoption agencies that place Caucasian children are restrictive and do not accept singles, applicants older than 40-45, or they have other restrictions. However, they are willing to accept these persons for other types of children.

Another common explanation for a couple wanting to do a transcultural or transracial adoption is the prospective adoptive parents feel connected to a particular race or culture because of their own personal ancestry or through their travels or military service.  Additionally, some adopting families just want to be parents to a child and do not care about the race or cultural heritage of the child.

If you are thinking of a transcultural or transracial adoption, please feel free to contact us at Adoption Services.  You may also find the Child Welfare Information Gateway article Transracial and Transcultural Adoption helpful.  The article addresses the questions "what should you do to prepare for adopting a child of a race or culture different from yours" and "after adoption, what can you do to help your child become a stable, happy, healthy individual, with a strong sense of cultural and racial identity".

The National Adoption Center has information and online parenting courses to help U.S. citizens with adoption, particularly of children with special needs and from minority cultures.

Foster care adoption offers many opportunities for a transcultural or transracial adoption.  We suggest you contact your state child welfare agency, your State Adoption Specialist, and your state's Adoption Exchange and Photolisting website for help.

For a list of adoption agencies in your state and neighboring states visit the links Adoption Agencies: Domestic and Adoption Agencies: International.

Adoption Services is a fully licensed child adoption agency that places children with loving families and does engage in trans-racial and trans-cultural child adoption.  Please feel free to contact Dr. Berger at Adoption Services by phone at 1-800-943-0400, or by email.

Please visit our home page to read about our commitment to assist adoptive parents like you as well as pregnant women and birth parents.