The purpose of this study has been to explore which experiences of exposure transnational adoptees choses to tell about in their Instagram accounts and create an understanding for their experiences and thoughts with the help from theories and earlier research. We have by performing a netnografic study, found our empiric material from two transnational adoptees accounts on Instagram to answer our question formulations: Which experiences of exposure does transnational adoptees publish on Instagram? and: How does transnational adoptees explain the correlation between these experiences and their adoption? It appears in our empiric conclusion and in the analysis that themes of affiliation, indebtedness, racism, colour blindness and identity occur in both transnational adoptees account when it comes to exposure in relation to adoption. These experiences and thoughts are analysed with help from earlier research and theories. The theories we used are postcolonial perspective, stigma theory, intersectionality and social identity theory. In the discussion, conclusions are made about the analysis, where it among other things shows that experiences and thoughts of indebtedness appears to be a larger theme than in our selected earlier research. This phenomenon can be understood using the postcolonial theory, that gives a possible explanation about the occurrence of indebtedness. We discuss further about the relations between physical appearance, affiliation, and lack of racial reflection as how they appear to be distinctive factors for exposedness of the transnational adoptees in this study.

South Africa has been under apartheid regime characterized by racial segregation. As a result, transracial adoption only became legal in 1991. The aim of this thesis is to analyze how transracial adoption has been perceived in South Africa. A post-colonialism theory together with a critical race theory will be used in order to understand the phenomenon that has taken place. The results of this thesis show that, even though there is a need for further research, attitudes towards this practice have been generally positive. This demonstrates that the country is slowly overcoming the lasting effects of apartheid in terms of acceptance of transracial adoption.

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This study aims to understand the experience of a non-White family trying to adopt a transracial child. ‘Transracial adoption’ is defined as a family adopting a child from a different race than theirs. My overarching focus is on how society comes to understand transracial adoption as a one-way transfer of minority children into White families, however, when the roles are reversed there is a lack of acceptance for minority families adopting transracially – specifically, when the adoptive child is White. The purpose of my study is to share my mine and mother’s life experience of fostering, social workers, child welfare and adoption so that minorities who are looking to adopt transracially may use mine and/or my mother’s life experience to help guide their adoption process if they feel they are being discriminated against. This study will also explore motivations, values, ethics and possible biases regarding transracial adoptions. Highlighting the contradictions that exist in transracial adoption practices I will use my own research as a platform for awareness of how social work practice can influence the lives of minorities who would like to adopt transracially, and for the need at both a macro and micro to create clearer transracial adoption policies for minority and White families. / Thesis / Master of Social Welfare (MSW)

Transracial adoptive families often encounter various struggles around race as they acknowledge the challenges of racial dissimilarity in their family structure. This thesis, grounded in the theoretical framework of Relational Dialectics Theory, explored the competing discourses around the conversation of race for adult Asian adoptees. The results from 35 semi-structured interviews and contrapuntal analysis revealed one dialectical tension highlighting the Asian adoptee’s role in maintaining conversations of race with their White adoptive parents. Some adoptees voiced the discourse of taking the opportunity to be the advocate, while others voiced the discourse of feeling frustrated with being the advocate. The results of this thesis provide the perspective of Asian adoptees in White families as they attempt to engage in conversations about race with their family members.

This study focused on the experiences of transracial adoptees in the United States, in an effort to examine the roles of cultural socialization and family influences on adoptees’ ethnic identity development. This study explored these issues through in-depth interviews with 11 adult transracial adoptees. Qualitative data analysis indicated various factors influencing participants’ ethnic identity development. Analysis compared levels of parental connection to adoptees’ birth culture, according to participants’ responses to interview questions. Analysis also compared socialization activities perceived by participants as meaningful to those that participants described as superficial or lacking in meaning. Themes included freedom of choice, opportunities for exposure to birth culture, and family support. Through quantitative analysis, a significant connection was found between parents’ level of connection with adoptees’ birth culture and the number of cultural socialization strategies they engaged in with their children. There was also a significant link between socialization activities participants viewed as meaningful and the strength of their ethnic identity development.

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Transracial foster care is a reality due to the ongoing social problems in South Africa, that leads to a high number of children found in need of care and protection and in need of foster homes. The Children’s Act (38 of 2005) encourages children to be placed in the care of a person with a similar background to their own, but simultaneously makes provision for children to be placed in the care of a person that does not have the same background as their own. The number of children found in need of a foster care placement, significantly surpasses the number of willing and able, same race, foster care parents. Transracial foster care has been a topic for research internationally for a couple of years, highlighting the influence of the transracial placement on the foster child. However, there continues to be limited research in South Africa on this growing phenomenon. Most research in South Africa focus on transracial adoptions and not specifically foster care placements. The aim of this qualitative research study was to broaden the knowledge base of transracial foster care in South Africa, in order to contribute to services provided to transracial foster care families. The research study was based in the northern and southern suburbs of Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa. Participants included foster parents of transracial foster care families and the social workers who supervise the foster care families participating in this study. Nine foster parents and three social workers participated in the study. Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with each participant in order to explore their experiences of being involved in transracial foster care placements. The article in Section B of this document aims to highlight the important aspects of transracial foster care in order to create a better understanding of this phenomenon. / MSW (Child Protection), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015