Transracial adoption continues to be a widely debated and controversial subject matter. The purpose of this study was to complete an examination of what adoption social workers do to teach adoptive parents regarding their adoptees' differing cultural and ethnic background. A questionnaire was sent to all adoption social workers employed by Children's Aid Societies in Ontario; 90 responded. The questionnaire included questions regarding demographic information, opinions of transracial adoption and also explored the actual actions taken to teach adoptive parents about their adoptees' differing cultural and ethnic background. Findings were that the majority of adoption social workers in Ontario are Caucasian, and that they have a high level of agreement with the appropriateness of transracial adoptions. The total actions taken by social workers to educate adoptive parents were found to be quite low; a higher number of actions taken was associated with: (1) The social workers being older; (2) The fact that they adopted transracially themselves; (3) Longer experience in social work, and specifically in adoption; (4) More transracial adoptions facilitated.

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Social work is a profession that espouses respect for the value of diversity. However, diversity is limited in social work programs as these programs focus primarily on the teaching of verbal methods of connection for social workers to engage with clients. Non verbal methods of communication are limited in social work programs. This inhibits diversity as research has demonstrated that many clients for various reasons are unable to communicate through verbal dialogue. This present study explored social workers attitudes towards the use of art in their therapy. Six social workers from a children's mental health agency were interviewed and the results indicated that social workers used art in their work and found it beneficial for their clients. The social workers limited education in non-verbal modalities of communication however, prevented them from using the art effectively. The study recommends that social work programs include nonverbal methods of communication to ensure diversity and best practice for the profession of social work.

No description available.