Attitudes Toward Transracial Adoption Among African American MSW Students

Background/Rationale:

Opposition to the practice of transracial adoption came in 1972 when the National Association of Black Social Workers (NABSW) took a stance against domestic transracial adoption.  Not until the mid-1980s did this position weaken in agency policy. The NABSW reaffirmed its stance with slight modifications in 1994, stating that transracial adoption could be a last-resort alternative when a Black family could not be found. Despite the long history of transracial adoption, only a few empirical studies have explored African American (AA) social work students’ and/or professionals’ attitudes toward this practice.  Little research has examined AA MSW students’ attitudes toward the practice. Thus, this study aimed to examine AA MSW students’ attitudes toward transracial adoption. 

Methods/ Methodology:

Using a survey method, MSW students at one of the Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the South were recruited. Out of 149 students, 109 students returned questionnaires (73% response rate). The majority of students were AA female students (85%).  The average age of the students was 31.70 years (SD = 8.58).  The attitudes were measured by 46 items obtained from three scales (Fenster, 2002; Lee et al., 2013; Whatley et al., 2003). Each item used a 5-point Likert-type scale ranging from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (5).  The 58 items of the 3 scales were carefully examined and 12 items were excluded, as they were included in two or more of the scales. The 46 items were placed in one of the following three categories: transracial adoption practice (24 items), transracial adoptive parents and parenting (12 items), and transracial adoptees’ ethnic identity formation (10 items). Descriptive statistics were calculated to present demographics and attitudes toward transracial adoption. 

Results:

This study revealed that the AA students were in favor of transracial adoption practice.  For example, an overwhelming number of the students (95%) believed that transracial adoption should be allowed. The AA students indicated that they believed that transracial adoptive parents were capable of adequately racially socializing their child. However, students had high neutral responses to 3 items.

The responses of the AA students to items concerning transracial adoptees’ ethnic identity formation were the most ambiguous. The students believed that it is very important for transracial adoptees to develop pride in their heritage.  However, the students endorsed high neutral responses to 6 items.

Discussion and Implications:

AA MSW students were open to the practice of transracial adoption as other studies have reported, but some students believed that transracial adoption might be the best choice for AA children. The students believed that adoptive parents of a race or culture different from their children’s may be able to racially and culturally socialize their children and that parents should prepare children for racism.  However, they also had concerns about whether parents would be able to understand problems related to race that their children would encounter because of the possibility of losing their connection to the AA community and thus losing their heritage. Qualitative research is needed to understand social workers’ value and attitudes toward transracial adoption.