Interracial Adoption: A Study in the

Formation of New Identities

Irene Shui

Dr. Julia Paley, Advisor

Senior Honors Thesis

4/8/99

• Preface
• Introduction
• Field Methods and Experiences: Position, Voice, and Reflexivity
• History of Transcountry Interracial Adoption: Filling the Needs of Parents and Children
• Becoming Multiracial: Changing Family Identities
• The Adoptee Experience: Forming Identities in an American Framework
• The Individual Identity: Rejection or Removal of the Importance of Ethnicity
• Perceptions of Other: Facing Societal Assumptions
• Revisiting Roots: Struggling to Identify and Balance Dual Identities
• Bridging Cultures: Breaking Down the Barriers of Duality
• Finding a Voice: A Growing Community Unites
• Conclusions
• References

Some important things to know before reading this paper are based in the general nature of the subject of interracial adoption. Because controversy and debate over the practice of interracial adoption is still strong, in order to protect the privacy of the families involved in this study, all of their names have been replaced by given pseudonyms. Another point which one must take into account when writing about interracial adoption, is that language must be chosen carefully so as to prevent perpetuating the aura of negativity in which the practice is sometimes considered. For example, one no longer refers to the parents who conceived the child as the "real parents" or "natural parents", but instead one uses the terms "birth parents" or "biological parents". Thus, I have tried my best to use a vocabulary which is respectful to the adoption community. Additionally, in most of the literature, the terms interracial and transracial are used interchangeably with respect to adoption; I have also chosen to follow this suit. In the case of this study, these terms will usually indicate intercountry adoption.

One of the major hurdles I had to overcome before conducting my research was the fact that as a college student with no outside funding, my resources were extremely limited. Because of this, travel was not optimal and I faced the predicament of how I was going to reach the communities that I needed for my study. In order to overcome this hurdle I turned to the technology of the internet. Thus, while personal human contact was made in every possible instance, in order to explore a larger and more diverse community, I found myself resorting to using the resources of the Internet for much of my contact with the adoption community. While this may be seen as an unorthodox means of conducting such an in-depth qualitative type study, I would like to think of it more of an indication of our changing times. To show my support for what I believe is an excellent resource as well as to contribute to it further, I have taken the liberty to post a copy of this work on the Internet. The web address that it may be accessed at is: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~irenes/

Lastly, I would like to thank all of the people who supported me throughout this project: my boss, an adoptive parent herself, who provided me with many resources and the encouragement to go on with this project, my advisor, the Anthropology Department at the University of Pennsylvania, and an especially big thank you goes to the adoptees and the adoptive families who were willing to take the time to share their experiences with me.

I first became attracted to the study of culture and cultural identity, through the process of trying to find my own. As an American Born Chinese (ABC), who was brought up in a primarily homogeneous white community, I felt many conflicting emotions towards my Chinese heritage. Through my struggles to resolve these conflicts, I learned a lot about the complex issues underlying the formation of one's cultural identity. Soon I became curious to find out more about the processes that other people went through to form their own identities. I became especially engaged in issues pertaining to how one chooses to position oneself within the society they live, how that society also has its own ways of positioning that person, and the tensions which often exist between these two positions. Additionally, I was interested in how the context or frames of reference by which one was surrounded could influence and shape their formation of identity.

Thus, when boarding my flight back to the United States from China, I noticed something interesting about 4 or 5 couples who had already settled into place in the first class seating area--while each of the couples were of Caucasian descent, each also had with them a Chinese child. Although I had recognized the presence of these interracial adoptive families in the US, at that moment their differences seemed especially highlighted. This was quite probably due, in part, to the fact that I had just spent the better part of five months living in China, during which I had continued to explore my own cultural identity as an ABC. In light of what I had just experienced, I could not help but wonder what was to develop in the future of those tiny children, who were being taken on a diasporic journey that would result in them being raised in a different culture, in the home of parents of a different race. More specifically, I wondered if the little girl sleeping happily in her new parents arms would someday y go through struggles similar to those that I had in identifying with my ethnicity, while at the same time trying to adapt to being 'American'. I wanted to know the degree to which her experiences would be shaped by the fact that the parents who raised her were of a different race than she was.

Upon returning to the US, I continued to think about these issues. After all, the society we live in is one which is extremely racially oriented. Race and ethnicity are seen as given categories into which one is born. Additionally, one is often identified by the stereotypical cultural traits associated with one's particular given racial community . In a sense, the paradigm of race in the US is very dualistic--either one is a member of the White majority or not. The system has been characterized by its terminological simplicity when categorizing ethnicity as well as by its "intense separation between subordinate 'racial' minorities and dominant ethnic groups" (Duany, 1998: 153). In this system, the boundaries placed on racial identity are still very rigid and are continually reinforced by stereotype. Accordingly, interracial adoption challenges these boundaries by extending the scope in which race and ethnicity must be considered. Its practice has created a new type of family unit which blurs the boundaries that have previously defined race and ethnicity.

In addition to investigating identity issues at the level of the family, it is also important to look at the individual experience of the adoptee. As family environment contributes greatly to a child's primary socialization experience, it would be interesting to understand how being part of one culture by birth and another by adoption shapes the process by which the cultural identity is formed. Hence, this project was born. Through its development I have learned a lot about the complexities which surround the topic interracial adoption. In fact, controversy over whether it should even exist remains strong and battles between its proponents and adversaries are fierce However, the purpose of this paper is not to get involved in the tangled debates over whether the practice of interracial adoption is right or wrong, but rather to investigate the process by which new cultural identities are forged. Thus, while I have provided a brief introduction to the history of interracial adoption and some of the controversy which surrounds it, the main focus of the research centers upon issues of cultural identity.

After having read a large amount of literature on the background of interracial adoption, I slowly entered into the community. Through acquaintances and the Internet, I gained many helpful contacts and was able to interview a large group of adoptive parents and a somewhat smaller group of adoptees. Eventually, I chose to limit the bulk of my research to the Korean and Chinese adoptees and adoptive families. My reasons for doing this were basically twofold. The first reason was essentially because these were the families most accessible to me. Until very recently Asia provided the most children adopted internationally--with Korea providing the largest contingent. Because of this, parents with children adopted from Asia are relatively numerous an d a myriad of groups and organizations have been set up within those communities. These groups provided me with a network of parents and adoptees from whom I gained a wealth of information. In fact, interactive list serves such as the adopt_korea list a s well as the APC and PAC lists (Children from China mailing list and Post-Adopt China list, respectively), were some of my most helpful resources. The lists are primarily made up of adoptive parents who use them as a forum in which they can share their ideas, problems, and concerns. Secondly, I chose to incorporate both Korean and Chinese adoptive families in my study because of their potential to complement each other. While, Chinese adoption is extremely popular now, it has only just begun within t he last 10 years. Therefore most of the families involved are relatively new to the adoption process and their children are still very young. Korean adoption, on the other hand, has a much longer history and also would provide me with some adult adoptee perspectives.

Upon entering the interracial adoptive community one of the first things that I observed was that it was not new to being the subject of research. Furthermore, because interracial adoption is still a subject of a high degree of controversy and debate, and has often been projected by the media in a negative light, some members of the community did not view being "subjected" to such research as optimal. To them, I was simply another one of those outside researchers (neither adoptive parent, nor adoptee) with no stake in the community. After all, not only were these people going through the stress of trying to start a new family, but they also faced other anxieties, including harsh media criticism, pressure from family and friends, etc. One parent explained some of the resistance that her adoption community felt towards me:

Consequently, I found that while many people applauded my efforts in trying to understand their story, others found my presence alarming and invasive. Recognizing my position in the community made me more sensitive to its concerns and gave me a new respect for the fears, expectations and emotions involved in the interracial adoption process.

In shifting to the limitations and strengths with respect to the qualitative nature of this study, it is necessary to emphasize that issues of adoption and race span a myriad of different opinions, experiences, and ideas. Taylor and Thornton (1996) state, "Clearly, racial socialization and racial group identity are complex and multidimensional constructs. At this point, we are only beginning to develop adequate measures of these constructs and it may be that racial socialization and group identity are too complex and uniquely individual to asses by a survey instrument...consequently researchers investigating the impact of transracial adoption...need to understand the inherent difficulties in measurement as well as the complexities of the underlying conc eptual issues and linkages."(287). With this in mind, I believe that a study which uses in-depth qualitative type research can allow for a more complete understanding of the many different perspectives surrounding such complex issues. However, it is just as important to realize that while my findings are meant to add to the understanding and awareness of interracial adoption, especially with respect to the formation of new cultural identities, the experiences of the people represented in my study can n ot be expected to reflect the views of the whole community at large.

Additionally, because I believe that "the people being studied should be allowed to speak for themselves, for they are the only true experts on themselves" (Brown, 1991: 14), I see my task as one in which I must represent these people in a manner which is as close to their own as possible. The voices heard throughout this study are mostly those of the adoptive parents and children who I have had the pleasure of working with. However, in also trying to present a more complete picture, I have resorted to supplementing those voices with excerpts from anthologies, essays, and other ethnographic/interview type sources about or authored by interracial adoptees. Thus, while I have tried to preserve my informants' voice as a whole and "privilege the 'insider' descriptions and categories over [my] 'outsider' views" (Emerson et al 1995: 30), I also realize that the nature of this research is very subjective in nature and the information I choose to present is very much contingent on my own personal analytical inclinations. I am well aware of my position as an Asian American and I do not deny that my interpretations as an Asian living in America may have influenced the ways I chose to present the material. Despite all of these qualifications, I am optimistic that the overall product will be very much in keeping with Geertz's view that: "The essential vocation of interpretive anthropology is not to answer our deepest questions, but to make available to us answers that others, guarding other sheep in other valleys, have given, and thus to include them in the consultable record of what man has said" (Geertz 1973: 30). Finally, as the author, I am obliged to take on the authoritative voice of interpretation, but I also encourage others to draw from t he information presented in this paper to derive their own insights and conclusions as they see fit.

In the beginning, much like this adult adoptee's description, international adoption was often associated with war torn nations and the aftermath of poverty and despair. After the Korean War the number of orphans nearly tripled in Korea, thus spur ring Americans to organize relief efforts to provide those children with homes and families in America (Wilkinson 1995). Perhaps the most widely know rescue mission is that of the Holt Agency, set up by Harry and Bertha Holt in the 1950's. As other organizations also arose and the press became involved, adoption was soon promoted to the American public as an act of compassion and sentiment. Similar situations also occurred following the Vietnam war and with the fall of the communist regimes in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union (Register 1991).

Today the driving force behind interracial adoption goes far beyond wartime rescue efforts and charitable acts of kindness. Instead the focus of interracial adoption has shifted to filling the demand of families in need of children. According to statistics from the Bureau of National Affairs, two million couples and one million single people chose to attempt adoption in 1987 (Register 1991: 7). However, due to new methods of contraception and legalized abortions as well as changes in th e social acceptance of single motherhood, the supply of available healthy Caucasian babies lags far behind the millions of mostly Caucasian people wanting to adopt. This gap between available children and prospective parents has continued to grow, motivating many people to turn to interracial adoption as a viable alternative (O'brian 1994, Wilkinson 1995). When discussing the topic of interracial adoption, it is important to note that domestic interracial adoptions (mostly Black or Native American children) within the United States are limited due to lack of support within the respective communities. One example of the opposition which faces domestic interracial adoptions is the Black community's response to the passing of the Multiethnic Placement Act in 1994 which made it illegal to delay placing a child in order to find a racially matched family. The act was vehemently opposed by the Association of Black Social Workers who described the placing of Black children in White homes as a form of racial and cultural genocide (St. John 1995, Lewin 1998, O'brian 1994). In light this, "adopting across national lines is often easier for whites than adopting across domestic racial lines" (Smith 1998: 39), and the number of white Americans looking toward Asia , Latin America, Eastern Europe, and Russia in hopes of filling the gap is skyrocketing. In 1986, approximately 10,000 children were transracially adopted from countries outside of the US (Smith, 38). This represents an over five fold increase from the just under 2000 children adopted from abroad in 1967. Hence, within 20 years foreign adoptions have grown tremendously and now account for approximately 20% of all American unrelated adoptions. Until the 1990's, 74 % of foreign adoptions have been from Asia, 21% from Central and south America, and 5 % from other parts of the world. (Smith 1998). However, since the recent breakup of the Soviet Union and the fall of communism in Eastern Europe, a large influx of Russian and Romania children from abroad has been seen in the adoption circles. (Lewin, A12, Wilkinson, 174-5) .

Despite this increasing popularity, interracial adoption is far from problem free. A simple review of the literature present is illustrative of the complications involved. While its advocates base the principle of interracial adoption on the child 's entitlement to having a loving family first, its opponents tend to "view it in the aggregate and see it as a simple matter of supply and demand, an international trade in human lives, parallel to the trade in natural resources" (Register 1991: 7). Interracial adoptive parent have even been described as having their 'exotic' children as accessories. Fein remarks, "In the 1990's, it became kind of social phenomenon to adopt a child from abroad. Last summer, Vanity Fair Magazine quipped that a Chinese baby was the season's hot accessory in the Hamptons" (Fein 1998: 3 ). Other opposition stems from advocates of social change who believe that intercountry adoption removes the necessity for other countries to move forward on reforms concerning the conditions that put their children in peril because "by exporting the children of the poor, the government avoids coming to terms with the economic and social needs of its most powerless members" (Register 1991: 8).

Still, the most prevalent debates by far have been centered on the ethical issues and consequences of removing a child from his/her native culture. The leading reason cited for opposing transracial adoption is over whether children will be able to ob tain the necessary support from their parents in order to develop their ethnic identity and learn of their heritage (Hayes 1993). Without this positive sense of ethnicity, many researchers fear that these adoptees, when outside the confines of their immediate families, will be unable to deal with the reality of being a minority in a racialized society at large (Andujo 1988). Other researchers take an opposite stance, challenging the notion that the lack of a racial identity can be damaging to a child. Hayes remarks, " To argue that each race forms a distinct community ignores various other cleavages, including class, religious, and political affiliations, that at once divide racial communities and cut across racial boundaries. It also ignores the relatively high degree of social fluidity in modern western society; TRA [transracial adoption] has not been an isolated exception to a culture of rigid social stratification but has rather reflected other forms of social integration, including racial integ ration" (Hayes 1993: 307). Still others believe that interracial adoption can transcend strict racial barriers and in the process, produces adult adoptees who have "special interpersonal talents and skills at bridging cultures" (Simon 1988: 2). Finally, whether or not the result of interracial adoption is positive, the practice of is still being branded by many minority communities as "racist and neocolonial and one that leads to children losing their ethnic and cultural identity" (O'brian 1994: 320) .

Thus as one can see there are a number of far reaching complex political and ethical questions which surround the topic of interracial adoption. And while there is no doubt that ideally the world would have no need for interracial adoption, one must keep in mind that until all the problems which contribute to it are solved, it will continue. As one adoptee summed up:

Accordingly, as long as the practice continues, it will be important to explore the immediate impact which it has on children and their adoptive families.

Although this point may seem self evident, one theme which came up often among the adoptive parents was that adopting interracially not only changes the identity of the child, but also that of the family. In fact, one mother (of Caucasian origin) went as far as to say,

While most parents do not go to the extreme of declaring themselves part Korean, almost all of them attempted to bring in some form of their child's birth culture into their homes in the form of art work, food, movies, toys, dolls, traditional clothes, books, newspapers, language, etc. At the same time they also realize that there are limitations to how much culture they can sincerely provide to their children. When I asked him about whether he thought he could provide his child with the cultural /ethnic support she will need, Fred Harris responded,

Realizing that they 'cannot be Korean' or 'Chinese' has led many interracial adoptive families to instead, take on a new kind of multiracial/multiheritage identity for themselves, in which they emphasize the incorporation of all sides of the family's c ultural roots. Just like the metaphor of the peony bush, they strive to keep all of their diversity in bloom by promoting their image as a multiracial family. Cathy Evans comments,

However, for many families who have had little to no previous experience with their child's birth culture, tying to incorporate it their family's infrastructure is quite a daunting task. Simply providing the surface aspects of the culture, without k nowing the deeper meanings behind them, may tokenize that culture. Just showing a child traditional aspects of his/her birth country also runs the risk of placing an anachronistic picture into his/her mind. To avoid this, parents must be able to show a legitimate interest in what they are doing and make an effort to come in contact with contemporary representations of that culture. Fred Harris remarked on the difficulties involved in knowing how to present Asian culture to his daughter:

Although he has little experience with Asian culture in his own heritage, by reaching out to the surrounding Asian community, he is taking a big step in acknowledging his connection to that heritage. Iris Kerner also wholeheartedly supports involvement with the Asian community and emphasized the "need to understand firsthand what it means to be part of an ethnic community".

Seeing their parents interact with other Asian people helps children to realize that their parents' interest in the culture is genuine. It also provides that child with opportunities to interact with peers and role models of his/her own heritage. Ado ptive father, George Hill discusses how important this is:

When parents truly embrace and love their child's birth culture, it eventually turns into a normal everyday part of the family's life. One mother remarked on how rather than forcing culture down her children's throats, it was simply integrated into th eir everyday lives:

Directly incorporating the culture into the family's daily routine may have made a more powerful impact rather than setting it aside as something special. After all culture is really something which is inherent to one's life, not something which one m ust force upon oneself.

One symbolic way that some parents use to incorporate both sides of their heritage into the family was by how they chose to name their child. Register discusses the significance that name choice has on the interracially adopted child: "Choosing a name for a child adopted from another country is by no means trivial, since names can also signal ethnicity...For very many parents, the child's name is a symbol of how they intend to negotiate cultural distance between the child's past and future" (Register 1 991: 95). While incorporating a child's birth name into his/her full name was seen as important for some parents, many parents also chose to name their children after family member--in what seemed almost like an affirmation that they were now part of the true family lineage. Here Cathy Evans describes the significance of her daughter's name:

One's given name is something which one must always live with (with the exception of going through a legal name change). Each day we introduce ourselves by the name that our parents gave us and each day we are remembered by this name. Including their daughter's Chinese name along with other names which have a special significance in their lives is a way that the Evans' are further promoting their commitment to a multiracial identity. It shows that they consider both their child's birth culture and her adoptive culture to be important enough to be included in how their child will identify herself and be identified by others. Linda Eichner also decided to include her daughter's Chinese name into her full name in order to provide her with a choice of ways to identify herself:

In most cultures, a name also carries significance in that it represents kinship ties and how the family's identity will be carried on to future generations. Linda's foresight allows for the chance that her child might want to take on her Chinese name and lets her child know that her birth history is still very much alive.

At the same time as their family lives are changing in order to promote their multiracial identity, their position in society is also changing. One difficulty that families face when taking on a new multicultural identity for themselves is that they are no longer a part of the majority that they used to be. Many families find comfort in having other families who are in a similar situation to identify with. By forming support groups in which they can promote their identity as a group they are establishing for themselves a more legitimate place in society. Fred Harris remarks on the benefits of interacting with other interracial families:

Having a community of people which are similar to them is beneficial for all family members. One mother describes how being part of an interracial community helped her biological child come to terms with their new family identity:

Katherine's comment indirectly brings up the important issue of racism. Another aspect of taking on the interracial/minority identity is that in many cases families must now learn to deal with racism. Koh, in her book: Oriental Children in American Homes, states, "Some parents ran into various forms of unpleasant public reactions, such as unkind stares of open prejudice. Such experiences made them keenly aware of the existence of strong racism in the United States" (Koh 1981: 109) Ms. Golden, an adoptive parent, agrees:

While previously, parents may have observed or even participated in prejudice, now they directly experience racism through their children. One parent remarked that now she must be "an active participant in the minority struggle rather than just an observer" (Register 1991: 162). One example of parents becoming involved in the minority struggle is the formation of groups such as KAAN (Korean American, Adoptee, Adoptive Family Network). The central mission of this KAAN i s "to network groups and individuals related to Korean adoptions. The network facilitates dialogue, promotes resource sharing , and disseminates information. KAAN works closely with its members, the Korean American community, and the Korean government to promote awareness of Korean adoption issues and develop programs that will benefit both the adoption and Korean communities" (KAAN home site). Iris Kerner, an adoptive mom who is very active in KAAN, stressed the importance of having such political connections to the Asian community because "anything that happens to the Korean community affects us--our children are Korean".

While on the level of the family we have seen the acceptance of a type of new multiracial identity, adoptees, too, must go through their own process of identity formation. Even though a multiracial environment may have been created for them within their family realm, the outside world is still very dualistic in its thinking and tends to assemble people into group identities based on appearance. Thus, adoptees face the challenge of developing identities for themselves that they are able to carry over to this outside world. Blanton believes that "each individual draws upon the social heritage for his sense of social identity, or identities, which gives him a set of expectations of where his true allies and opponents lie" (Verma and Bagley 1979: 28 ). For many of the adoptees, their experiences of being brought up in America, in an American home, becomes the primary social heritage from which they can draw upon. How one is raised has a great deal to do with how one identifies oneself and with the values that one will choose to carry forth. On the topic how they were raising or had raised their children, most parents had the general feeling that however much pride they could instill in their children's heritage, for the most part they are still go ing to be raised 'American'. Katherine Stein's case is representative of these feelings:

The effects of this are that many adoptees, while they acknowledge that they are connected to Korea by birth, develop much stronger associations with being 'American'. Here Matthew, an adoptee, remarks,

Because his life is now based in America, and all of his important ties are to American people and places, the role that Korea plays in this adoptee's lives seems to have fallen to the background. Martha, another adoptee, also reflects on her strong connections to the 'American' culture. She states,

Thus, in the majority of cases, adoptees know little about their pasts, and unless they are reunited with their birthparents (if and when they can or desire to do so) their history is limited to what little information they do have as well as indirect connections to their birth culture through meeting other Asians, or keeping in touch with their orphanage. Consequently, they must focus on the present and their identities are then grounded in the lives that their families and communities have created for them. If it is a White American home that they are raised in, it is that life into which they must assimilate. Adoptee, Francis Johnston points out that much of the way he feels about himself comes from the experiences he has had while growing up in a predominantly white community:

From these remarks one can see the effects context has in shaping one's identity--in this case it is that of the 'American' With only '--but an important question which has yet to be raised in our discussion centers on what the 'American' identity really is. For example, when Brendan Smith says, "all in all I want my kids to be good all-Americans", what does he really mean? What is adoptee's Francis Johnston's comment that he identifies with the White background indicative of?

The Individual Identity: Rejection or Removal of the Importance of Ethnicity

In response to this question of, "what is the 'American' identity?", people held several different opinions. Many like Elisabeth Stern "believe in a strong individual, because this is the way of our American society." Placing the emphasis on the ind ividual, removes the need for one to identify with any type of group--especially an ethnic one. Says one mother,

This idea of 'removing the nationality aspect' of identity is also apparent in Linda Eichner's philosophy: "I will teach them [my children] to be 'color blind' and hope they will see themselves and other minorities as being just children".

Some adoptees also appear to have taken on this version of the 'American' identity. Francis Johnston explains:

Like Matthew, who commented that ethnic pride does not really affect the way he lives now, Francis sees himself as his 'own person' who doesn't need to identify with a particular culture in order to know himself. Other adult adoptees also follow in t his suit. One adoptee stressed,

Another adoptee, Bromley Chappell also emphasizes the importance of individuality in stating,

To the above group of people being 'American' means being an individual. While they are able to recognize that they are Asian by birth, their focus is on the individuals that they have grown up to be and not the group to which their appearance ties them. They are the "Generation Me". However, for other adoptees growing up 'American' was not so simple. For these adoptees, promoting their individuality in a society which all too often categorized them as the 'Other' was not enough to prevent them from feeling painfully aware of their minority status and confused.

Perceptions of Other: Facing Societies Assumptions

One aspect which prevents some interracial adoptees from solely focusing on their individuality is the fact that they look and are of a minority group. Therefore, while overlooking ethnicity in favor of simply identifying oneself by distinctive indiv idual characteristics may suffice if one is part of the White majority, the circumstances are different for those who are classified and categorized by their minority status. In explaining these circumstances, Register commented that for many minorities being "in a nation populated by waves of immigrants arriving in succession--some as captives, some as refugees, some of their own free will--race and ethnicity are both divisive and unifying...At the same time race and ethnicity serve as rare sources of community in this very diverse society. Being among others who are what you are can offer a sense of belonging that is otherwise hard to come by in this huge country...Growing up in America means wanting to be distinctive as an individual yet still part of the group" (Register 1991: 152-3). Thus, even though the American ideal of individualism permeates throughout society, we still are liable to cluster people into groups based on a single, superficial glance. This is frustrating for interracial adoptees because while they have been raised on the principle that ethnicity should not define who they are, the great majority of society does not adhere to that principle. Here one adoptee, expresses the 'shock' she felt at being identified as Asian: