An Exploration of Racial Socialization Practices Among Transracial Foster Parents with Black Children

Background and Purpose: A significant portion of research has examined the racial-ethnic identity development process in the context of racial socialization within Black and African American families. Few studies have explored the racial socialization practices of transracial foster parents of Black foster children. This study fills such gap by examining a sample of transracial foster parent experiences with racially socializing Black foster children.

Methods: This study explored transracial foster parents’ racial socialization practices when caring for Black foster children, and transracial foster parents’ rationale for engaging in racial socialization. Purposive sampling from six foster parent associations across the United States was utilized to recruit foster parents who were not Black, were licensed to foster children under the age of 18, had one or more years of experience as a foster parent, and who had cared for one or more Black foster children between the ages of 12 and 17 in the past year. Semi-structured phone interviews were conducted which elicited participants’ experiences with fostering Black children. Interviews were audio recorded and transcribed verbatim using a transcription team. A thematic analytic approach and in vivo coding was utilized to analyze the interview transcripts in NVivo 12.

Results: Participants were eight White foster parents who were predominately female (87.5% female, 12.5% male) and married (62.5% married, 12.5% divorced, 25% single). On average, participants were 46.13 years old (SD=11.57) and possessed 6.75 years (SD=6.09) of fostering experience. Analyses showed that transracial foster parents engage in racial socialization behaviors and messages similar to biological parents and caregivers of Black children including cultural socialization, egalitarianism, preparation for bias, and promotion of mistrust behaviors and messages (Hughes et al., 2006). Transracial foster parents engaged in cultural socialization through art, literature, music, haircare, promotion of self-acceptance, as well as facilitating relationships with Black children’s birth family or other Black children, families, and mentors. Within the egalitarianism theme, transracial foster parents assisted their Black children with developing competitive job skills and stressed the abundance of job opportunities for Black individuals. Transracial foster parents engaged in preparation for bias by facilitating discussions and warnings about interactions with law enforcement and discriminatory policies and practices at school. Within the promotion of mistrust theme, transracial foster parents taught their Black children to be distrustful of law enforcement and retail employees who were suspicious of youth. Analyses also revealed protection and previous experiences with witnessing or being the perpetrators of racism or racial bias as reasons for transracial foster parents’ engagement in racial socialization.

Conclusions and Implications: The findings of this study highlight the importance of foster parent training and social capital in relation to racial socialization, given foster parents’ role in meeting the cultural needs of the children in their care. Child welfare agencies and foster parent associations can be instrumental in providing resources, supports, and mentorship to increase racial socialization practice among transracial foster parents of Black children. Future studies could investigate foster parent race, age, gender, education, income, and years of fostering in relation to racial socialization practice.