Product Description

Nearly forty years after researchers first sought to determine the effects, if any, on children adopted by families whose racial or ethnic background differed from their own, the debate over transracial adoption continues. In this collection of interviews conducted with black and biracial young adults who were adopted by white parents, the authors present the personal stories of two dozen individuals who hail from a wide range of religious, economic, political, and professional backgrounds. How does the experience affect their racial and social identities, their choice of friends and marital partners, and their lifestyles? In addition to interviews, the book includes overviews of both the history and current legal status of transracial adoption.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #36749 in Books
• Published on: 2000-06-15
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 406 pages

Review

"This book is the story of every person who has lived in an environment in which he or she didn't quite fit.... Yet, while the stories in the book are universal, the are also deeply personal and incredibly touching. You cannot read this book without being changed." -- Lifelines

"Extremely informative and emotionally compelling." -- Social Work in Health Care

Review

"This much needed study brings hard facts and personal experiences to bear on an important subject too often dominated by dogmas and arrogance. It is a breath of fresh air in the fetid atmosphere of racial politics." -- Thomas Sowell, Stanford University

Randall Kennedy, Harvard Law School
No one has contributed more useful empirical research on interracial adoption than Professor Rita Simon and her associates. In Their Own Voices is an important supplement to that scholarly tradition that will further illuminate one of the most interesting corners of race relations in American life. The stories told in this collection are fascinating, poignant, enlightening, inspiring. They deserve a broad audience.

Customer Reviews

Good overview of issues but better interview technique would have helped
The book is divided into:
1) A brief section on the academic research and political arguments on transracial adoption, written by a social science researcher; and
2) Interviews with women and men, conducted by an adult transracial adoptee; all interviews are with black Americans

As a potential adoptive parent, I found the book informative, particularly in how the interviewees reconciled their identities. Some interviewees have experienced severe identity issues exacerbated by adoption, some of their stresses were similar to challenges that most black people face in the U.S., and some of the interviewees don't seem to have had race or adoption be much of a hurdle in their lives. A common recommendation that interviewees make is that white parents of black children should make sure that their children have black peers--even if those peers are also transracially adopted--and that the children will long to be connected with black culture at some point so connecting them with the culture associated with their racial background from the beginning makes the most sense.

My main criticism is that the interviewer inserts her life and interests into the discussions so much that her leading questions make you wonder what people would have said if the interviewer had been able to be more neutral. There also is not much of a discussion of how the women interviewed seem to have much more in the way of identity issues overall than do the men. Does this mean that black males have an easier time raised by white parents than do females? This contrasts with my understanding that, overall, black women have an easier time being successful in school and later in the job market than do black men, for reasons of culture and discrimination.

A Must Read
As a parent that adopted a child who is a miniority (not African American, but Asian) I have gained a lot of insight from an adoptee's perspective. I would recommend this book to an parent considering or currently raiaisng a child of a different race.

Perspective of Adult adoptees is very helpful
This book is important for adoptees, adoptive parents and grandparents, as well as others who are loving and parenting across racial lines. While this is not a "how to" book, it is clear from the adoptees' stories what they believe their adoptive parents did well and what they wish their adoptive parents had done differently. It stresses the difficult issues but also reflects that transracial adoption can and does work. It helps parents to understand the importance of nurturing a relationship between the adoptive family and the adoptees' ethnic communities.