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Over 50% of adoptions are transracial, involving primarily White parents and children of color from different ethnic or racial backgrounds. Transracial adoptive (TRA) parents are tasked with providing ethnic–racial socialization processes (ERS) to support TRA adoptees’ ethnic–racial identity development and prepare them to cope with ethnic–racial discrimination. However, unlike nonadoptive families of color, TRA parents lack shared cultural history with adoptees and have limited experience navigating racial discrimination. Knowledge of ERS among TRA families has centered on unidirectional processes between parenting constructs, ERS processes, and children's functioning. However, ERS processes in this population have complexities and nuances that warrant more sensitive and robust conceptualization. This paper proposes a process-oriented dynamic ecological model of the system of ERS, situating transacting processes in and across multiple family levels (parent, adoptee, family) and incorporating developmental and contextual considerations. With its framing of the complexities in ERS among TRA families, the model offers three contributions: a conceptual organization of parenting constructs related to ERS, a more robust understanding of ERS processes that inform how parents provide ERS, and framing of transacting processes within and between parenting constructs, ERS processes, and children's functioning. Implications for research, policy, and practice are discussed.

The association of post-adoption experiences of discrimination with depressive symptoms was examined in 93 previously institutionalized (PI) youth (84% transracially adopted). Additionally, we explored whether sleep quality statistically moderated this association. Notably, we examined these associations after covarying a measure of autonomic balance (high/low frequency ratio in heart rate variability) affected by early institutional deprivation and a known risk factor for depression. PI youth exhibited more depressive symptoms and experiences of discrimination than 95 comparison youth (non-adopted, NA) raised in their biological families in the United States. In the final regression model, there was a significant interaction between sleep quality and discrimination, such that at higher levels of sleep quality, the association between discrimination and depression symptoms was non-significant. Despite being cross-sectional, the results suggest that the risk of depression in PI youth involves post-adoption experiences that appear unrelated to the impacts of early deprivation on neurobiological processes associated with depression risk. It may be crucial to examine methods of improving sleep quality and socializing PI youth to cope with discrimination as protection against discrimination and microaggressions.

Objective This study of transracially adopted adolescents and their White parents examines family cohesion and expressiveness as predictors of parents' engagement in cultural socialization and preparation for bias. It also examines differences in adolescent and parent views of the level of cohesion and expressiveness in their family. Background Given the importance of both cultural socialization and preparation for bias on promoting the well‐being of adoptees, it is of value to examine why some White parents engage in these behaviors more frequently than others. Family functioning sets the tone for subsequent interactions and may be an important contributor to parents' racial socialization efforts. Method Seventy‐two transracially adopted parent–adolescent dyads completed an online survey. Results Generally, parents and adolescents reported high cohesion and moderate expressiveness, although transracially adopted adolescents tended to view their family more negatively than their parents. Parents who viewed their family as more cohesive and expressive were more likely to engage in cultural socialization. Those who viewed their family as more expressive were more likely to talk to their child about race and prepare them for discrimination. Contrary to expectation, when adolescents viewed their family as less expressive, their parents were more likely to engage in preparation for bias. Conclusion and Implications The importance of including multiple family members' perspectives to more fully understand transracial adoptive families and the need for White parents to engage in quality, not just frequent, racial socialization are discussed.

Drawing on Asian adoptee-authored research, this article conceptualizes a critical adoptee standpoint. It underscores the significance of adoptees as knowledge producers and offers new insights into family dynamics, racialization processes, and adoptee personhood. Through three conceptual themes derived from adoptee-authored research, it illuminates the intersectional power dynamics shaping adoptees’ lived experiences and challenges traditional adoption narratives. This approach repositions adoptees as agentic subjects who have cultivated a group consciousness that transcends traditional boundaries of belonging. While focused on Asian adoptees, the essay ultimately calls for broader recognition of adoptees’ contributions to adoption discourse and a more comprehensive understanding of a critical adoptee standpoint in both academic and advocacy settings and among the broader adoptee population.

There areas increasing numbers of multiracial families created through marriage, adoption, birth, and a growing population of multiracial persons. Multiracials are a hidden but dominant group of transracially adopted children in both the United Kingdom and the United States. This paper introduces findings from an interpretive study of 25 transracially adopted multiracials regarding a set of experiences participants called \"being raised by White people.\" Three aspects of this experience are explored: (1) the centrality yet absence of racial resemblance, (2) navigating discordant parent-child racial experiences, and (3) managing societal perceptions of transracial adoption. Whereas research suggests some parents believe race is less salient for multiracial children than for Black children, this study finds participants experienced highly racialized worlds into adulthood.

Along with other types of racially mixed families, families built through transracial adoption in the United States have solidified as an increasingly recognized family form. Along with this increasing acknowledgement, transracial families must also contend with narratives that formulate transracial adoption as an act of humanitarianism on the one hand and as a replication of systemic racism and colonialism on the other. This article explores how members of transracial families respond to these contradictory narratives through interviews with 30 transracial adoptees and their white siblings. Their experiences highlight three responses that transracial family members have regarding the idea of their families being classified as a humanitarian project: recreating transracial adoption as humanitarianism within their own lives, reclaiming their identity and family as separate from humanitarianism, and resisting the humanitarian aspects of transracial adoption altogether. Specifically, this study adds nuance to the question of how mixed families navigate the enduring power of humanitarianism within their own lives.

Transracial adoptees face unique challenges when it comes to being socialized with their race and culture. Ethnic identity and parent racial–ethnic socialization are two important variables that have been studied in the transracial adoption literature. Additionally, transracial adoptee outcomes of racial–ethnic socialization have been analyzed in multiple studies. However, few reviews have focused on synthesizing empirical studies that include the variables of both racial–ethnic socialization and transracial adoptee outcomes together. Therefore, the purpose of this systematic research synthesis was to examine studies with variables of parent practices of racial–ethnic socialization and transracial adoptee outcomes, and transracial adoptee experiences of racial–ethnic socialization and adoptee outcomes. Thirteen studies were included in the synthesis, and collective findings suggest that racial–ethnic socialization is associated with healthy adoptee outcomes in multiple studies. Implications and limitations about the need for transracially adoptive parents to be educated about racial–ethnic socialization, and resources that adoptive agencies can provide are discussed.

From the 1950s through 2024, transracial adoptions—particularly of Korean and Chinese children—have been increasingly prevalent in Western societies. While these adoptions provided children with opportunities to grow up in loving and supportive families, they also introduced unique challenges related to identity, cultural integration, and self-esteem. This basic qualitative study aimed to explore the lived experiences of Chinese and Korean transracial adoptees (TRAs) within their adoptive families, in their interactions with counseling, and their perceptions of the effectiveness of counseling interventions. The study was grounded in Relational-Cultural Theory (RCT) and the Openness to Communication framework to examine the experiences of 19 Chinese and Korean TRAs. Data were collected through qualitative surveys and analyzed through a modified version of Braun and Clark’s thematic coding to identify and interpret broad insights from recurring patterns and themes from the participants. The emerging themes reflected participants’ lived experiences, including their engagement with counseling during childhood and adulthood. Findings underscored the need for specialized therapeutic approaches that address the racial and cultural identity development of TRAs adopted into Caucasian families. By recognizing the significance of these factors and implementing culturally responsive counseling practices, mental health professionals can play a crucial role in fostering the psychological and emotional well-being of TRAs.

The cultural experiences of transracial and international adoptees (TRIAs) are uniquely affected by their adoption across cultures and racial/ethnic groups. Upon adoption, TRIAs typically identify quickly with their adoptive parents’ White culture but may eventually seek to reclaim their birth culture. Current terminology used to describe cultural identifications and changes (e.g., acculturation, enculturation) does not adequately depict the reclamation of birth culture by TRIAs. The authors describe a new term for this process called reculturation.

Susan Devan Harness, author of Bitterroot: A Salish Memoir of Transracial Adoption , describes American Indian family separation and child-taking in the context of her own experiences as adopted-out Salish woman in reunion with her family and tribe.