Argumentative Essay On Transracial Adoption

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Transracial adoption (TRA) occurs when the parents and their adopted child are of different races. TRA has been a controversial issue as it is said to affect the child’s racial identity formation and development. Most TRA studies are done in the United States of America (USA) where there is an increasing trend of TRAs. The demand by Caucasian couples for babies is increasing but the babies available for adoption mainly come from African-American or Asian families. In the USA, from 1999 to 2013, the total number children adopted from China and South Korea is 91,002, comprising roughly 36% of the adoptions (Bureau of Consular Affairs, U.S. State Department, 2013). Thus, it is important to investigate the factors that aid (protective factors) or inhibit (risk factors) transracial adoptees in developing a healthy and positive racial identity so as to ensure the children’s welfare. …show more content…

Firstly, Huh and Reid (2000) argue that talking about adoption and having racial discussions at home is beneficial for the adoptee. Their argument is supported by Liow (1994) who contends that children’s knowledge of their racial and cultural roots is important in forming their personal identities and such knowledge should be conveyed in a manner that coincides with the children’s understanding ability. Secondly, parents should teach their child how to cope with racial discrimination. Studies have shown that the inability to cope with discrimination will result in the child being unable to deal with racism in a way that protects their self-esteem and positive racial identity (Butler-Sweet, 2011). There are also other protective factors like children’s involvement in cultural activities, parents having friends or colleagues who are of the child’s race, being in racially integrated schools and living in a multi-cultural neighbourhood (Huh & Reid, 2000; Liow, 1994; Robinson,

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