Enhancing Positive Outcomes in Transracial Adoptive

232 Pages·2011·0.77 MB·English

California Social Work Education Center

C A L S W E C

Enhancing Positive Outcomes in
Transracial Adoptive Families

________________________________________________

By:
Karie Frasch
Devon Brooks
Jennifer Reich
Leslie Wind

University of Southern California
School of Social Work

2004
TABLE OF CONTENTS

CalSWEC Preface v

About the Authors vii

Abstract ix

Introduction xi

Acknowledgements xv

Curriculum Competencies for Public Child Welfare in California xvi

Chapter I: The Public Child Welfare Context for Contemporary Transracial 1
Adoptive Families: Overview
Instructional Guide…2

Contents…2
Introduction…3

Child Welfare Overview…4
Introduction…4
Definitions and Statistics…5
Characteristics of Foster Care Adoptions…8
The Child Welfare System and Black Children…13
Child Welfare Legislation and Its Relevance to Transracial Adoption…17
Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980…18
Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997…19
Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978…23
The Multiethnic Placement Act and Interethnic Adoption Provisions…25
Openness and Postadoption Contact Statutes…31
Race and Adoption…34
Historical Overview…34
Goals of Culturally Relevant Placements…37
Examining Outcomes of Children Who Were Transracially Adopted…40
Summary/Conclusion…44
Openness and Contact…44
Historical Background…46
Open Adoption: The Clinical Controversy…53
Research on Open Adoption…57
Transracial Adoption…64
Adoption Services and Support…65
Overview…66
Need for Adoption Services and Support…67
Services and Support in Special Needs Adoptions…68
Parent Recommendations…69
Adoption Services, Helpfulness, and Satisfaction…70
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Frasch, K., Brooks, D., Reich, J., & Wind, L. (2003). Enhancing positive outcomes in transracial adoptive
families. Los Angeles, CA: University of Southern California, School of Social Work.
Understanding Adoption Services Needs Using an Adoptive Life Cycle
Framework…71
Questions for Discussion and Reflection…78

Chapter II: Normative Development in Transracial Adoptive Families: An 83
Integration of the Literature and Implications for the Construction of a
Theoretical Framework
Instructional Guide…84
Contents…84
Questions for Discussion and Reflection…86

Chapter III: Enhancing Positive Outcomes in Transracial Adoptive 88
Families: Themes From In-Person Interviews

Instructional Guide…89
Contents…89
Introduction…90
The Interview Guide…91
The Participants…92
Background for Adoption…94
Reasons for Adoption…94
Child Characteristics…98
Children’s Understanding of Their Adoption…100
Openness and Contact…104
Choosing Openness and Contact…105
Missing Contact…109
Negotiating Contact…111
Vulnerability of Contact…117
Reactions to Contact…121
Conclusion…122
Race and the Transracial Adoptive Family…124
Discussing Race and Ancestry…125
On-going Discussions of Race…129
Moving Between Cultural Worlds…130
Race and Schools…133
The Role of Role Models…136
Race as Children Get Older…137
Crossing Color Lines: Parental Awareness of Racism…140
Parents Describe What Is Needed to Raise a Child of Color…143
Conclusion…146
Services and Support…147
Pre-Adoption…147
Postadoption…151
Discussion and Implications…159
Chapter Summary…159
Discussion and Implications…164

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Frasch, K., Brooks, D., Reich, J., & Wind, L. (2004). Enhancing positive outcomes in transracial adoptive
families. Berkeley: University of California at Berkeley, California Social Work Education Center.
Roles of Social Workers Working With Transracial Adoptive
Families…165
Questions for Reflection and Discussion…166

Chapter IV: Case Vignettes 170
Instructional Guide…171
Vignette #1…172
Discussion Questions…172
Vignette #2…174
Discussion Questions…174
Vignette #3…176
Discussion Questions…176
Vignette #4…178
Discussion Questions…179
Vignette #5…180
Discussion Questions…180
Vignette #6…182
Discussion Questions…182

Chapter V: Practice Guidance for Social Workers 184
Instructional Guide…185

Handouts (separate document where this document was found)

Chapter VI: Self-Assessment Guide for Considering Transracial Adoption 187
Instructional Guide…188

References 189

Appendixes 201
Appendix A: Study Methods…202
Appendix B: Interview Protocols…207

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Frasch, K., Brooks, D., Reich, J., & Wind, L. (2004). Enhancing positive outcomes in transracial adoptive
families. Berkeley: University of California at Berkeley, California Social Work Education Center.
CALSWEC PREFACE

The California Social Work Education Center (CalSWEC) is the nation’s largest
state coalition of social work educators and practitioners. It is a consortium of the state’s
20 accredited graduate schools of social work, the 58 county departments of social
services and mental health, the California Department of Social Services, and the
California Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers.
The primary purpose of CalSWEC is an educational one. Our central task is to
provide specialized education and training for social workers that practice in the field of
public child welfare. Our stated mission, in part, is “to facilitate the integration of
education and practice.” But this is not our ultimate goal. Our ultimate goal is to improve
the lives of children and families who are the users and the purpose of the child welfare
system. By educating others and ourselves, we intend a positive result for children:
safety, a permanent home, and the opportunity to fulfill their developmental promise.
To achieve this challenging goal, the education and practice related activities of
CalSWEC are varied: recruitment of a diverse group of social workers, defining a
continuum of education and training, engaging in research and evaluation of best
practices, advocating for responsive social policy, and exploring other avenues to
accomplish the CalSWEC mission. Education is a process, and necessarily an ongoing
one involving interaction with a changing world. One who hopes to practice successfully
in any field does not become “educated” and then cease to observe and to learn.
To foster continuing learning and evidence-based practice within the child
welfare field, CalSWEC funds a series of curriculum modules that employ applied

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Frasch, K., Brooks, D., Reich, J., & Wind, L. (2004). Enhancing positive outcomes in transracial adoptive
families. Berkeley: University of California at Berkeley, California Social Work Education Center.
research methods to advance the knowledge of best practices in child welfare. These
modules, on varied child welfare topics, are intended to enhance curriculum for Title IV-
E graduate social work education programs and for continuing education of child
welfare agency staff. To increase distribution and learning throughout the state,
curriculum modules are made available through the CalSWEC Child Welfare Resource
Library to all participating schools and collaborating agencies.
The module that follows has been commissioned with your learning in mind. We at
CalSWEC hope it serves you well.

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Frasch, K., Brooks, D., Reich, J., & Wind, L. (2004). Enhancing positive outcomes in transracial adoptive
families. Berkeley: University of California at Berkeley, California Social Work Education Center.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Karie Frasch, PhD, MSW, is a Senior Research Associate at the University of
Southern California, where she is conducting quantitative and qualitative research on
issues relevant to the child welfare system. She is currently the Co-principal Investigator
on a 3-year program evaluation for the Los Angeles County Department of Children and
Family Services. She completed her MSW and PhD from the School of Social Welfare
at the University of California at Berkeley, receiving her doctorate in 2001. Her interests
include public child welfare services, adoption, child and family poverty, child and family
development, risk and resiliency, welfare reform, and children’s health. She is also an
author of a previous CalSWEC-funded curriculum project entitled, Listening to Children
in Foster Care.
Devon Brooks, PhD, MSW, has been on the faculty of the School of Social
Work at the University of Southern California since 1999. He obtained his MSW and
PhD from the School of Social Welfare at the University of California at Berkeley. Dr.
Brooks’ research and practice interests include racial and ethnic disparities in the
permanency and mental health outcomes of children and families served by public child
welfare agencies, risk assessment, assessment of formal and indigenous service needs
and utilization, adoption, transracial adoption and racial matching policy, gay and
lesbian adoption and foster care placements, family preservation, and child welfare
innovations. Currently, he is Principal Investigator on several studies examining the
implementation and impact of concurrent planning and Structured Decision Making on
child permanency and well-being. He served as Guest Editor for a special double issue

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Frasch, K., Brooks, D., Reich, J., & Wind, L. (2004). Enhancing positive outcomes in transracial adoptive
families. Berkeley: University of California at Berkeley, California Social Work Education Center.
of Children and Youth Services Review on implementing and evaluating child welfare
demonstration projects, is co-author of several book chapters, and has published widely
in peer-review journals.
Jennifer Reich, PhD, is a Fellow at the Institute for Health Policy Studies at the
University of California, San Francisco. She received her MA and PhD in Sociology from
the University of California, Davis in 2002. Dr. Reich’s research uses qualitative
methods to explore gender and race in families and state policy. She has written articles
and book chapters on an array of subjects including expectations of parents in the child
protective services system, multiracial families, and representations of poor families in
the media. She is currently completing her book Fixing Families: Parents, Power and
the Child Welfare System. Dr. Reich will begin as Assistant Professor of Sociology and
Criminology at the University of Denver in Fall 2004.
Leslie H. Wind, PhD, ACSW, LMSW-ACP, is an Assistant Professor at the
Boston College Graduate School of Social Work. She has been a professional social
worker for 15 years. Since completion of her MSW at the University of California at Los
Angeles, Dr. Wind has worked as a clinical social worker, administrator, and trainer in
outpatient and inpatient settings and in for-profit, nonprofit, and private practice arenas.
She has extensive postgraduate training in the field of trauma and has devoted most of
her practice to child abuse survivors and their families. Following completion of her
doctorate at the University of Southern California, Dr. Wind moved to Boston where she
pursues teaching and research at Boston College.

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Frasch, K., Brooks, D., Reich, J., & Wind, L. (2004). Enhancing positive outcomes in transracial adoptive
families. Berkeley: University of California at Berkeley, California Social Work Education Center.
ABSTRACT

This curriculum is designed to provide current, relevant, and sensitive information
about the experiences and challenges of transracial adoptive families. The ultimate goal
of the curriculum is to improve the quality of services and supports provided to these
unique families. As more children of color, many of whom are older and have multiple
special needs, are permanently placed with White parents, it is vital to understand these
families’ normative developmental challenges and experiences. Issues surrounding
family development, race, and culture are of particular importance. There is also a
growing subset of transracial adoptive families who choose to maintain contact with
their child’s birth family following the finalization of adoption. Very little information exists
to help these families or their child welfare workers understand the bumpy terrain of
openness, especially over time. This curriculum takes a first step toward filling some of
the many gaps in knowledge and practice.
This curriculum contains summaries of the current literature on transracial
adoption, a theoretical discussion about normative development in transracial adoptive
families, practice-oriented information including discussion questions and exercises,
case vignettes, worker guidance, and a self-assessment tool, and findings from the
study conducted as part of this project. An in-depth qualitative study was conducted with
12 transracial adoptive families in California in order to explore and illuminate relevant
themes. This allows for the extensive inclusion of the voices of the adult and youth
participants themselves. Findings themes include: discussions of the complicated
factors involved in choosing transracial adoption; how the children and youth

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Frasch, K., Brooks, D., Reich, J., & Wind, L. (2004). Enhancing positive outcomes in transracial adoptive
families. Berkeley: University of California at Berkeley, California Social Work Education Center.
understand the meaning of their adoption; issues around the choice to maintain contact
with their adopted child’s birth family, including boundaries, hopes and expectations, the
role of the contact, and the vulnerability of contact arrangements; the role of race in
family life and development, including discussing race and ancestry, negotiating
different cultural worlds, and developmental changes; and the role of services and
supports prior to and following adoption, including the importance of both emotional and
informational support.

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Frasch, K., Brooks, D., Reich, J., & Wind, L. (2004). Enhancing positive outcomes in transracial adoptive
families. Berkeley: University of California at Berkeley, California Social Work Education Center.