outsiders within

I just finished reading "Outsiders Within: Writing on Transracial Adoption." Fascinating book. It was hard to read at times for various reasons but in the end I'm glad I pushed through. I feel as though I've been able to work through some issues related to transracial adoption that the authors raise and this can only be a good thing for me and my future family. I'd love to write an insightful book review but that's not really my style and would remind me WAY too much of school (which I just finished, so no more!!). But instead I thought for some of my future posts I would include a few quotes from my favourite chapters and hope that will give you a sense of the book. Warning: these quotes do not paint adoption as all sunshine and roses and will be controversial.

Chapter 10: Shopping for Children in the International Marketplace by Kim Park Nelson

"This chapter highlights the power differences between white people and people of color, the rich and the poor, the more and less empowered in the adoption circle. Parents are willing to support the growing and expensive transnational adoption industry to acquire children with whom to build family. Parents in [North America] view themselves as superior to parents in poor countries, further easing their decision to adopt transnationally. They simultaneously see their foreign-adopted children as enriching, authentically exotic, and yet part of the family, therefore no different from the parents themselves. These views enable these parents to reproduce their own white privilege through the act of transnational adoption. Transnational adoption "how-to" guides for parents show that many prospective parents are aware of how to take advantage of the adoption market and, more pointedly, see themselves as more deserving of the parenting experience than parents in poor countries. Racial and cultural literacy is not viewed as a prerequisite for parenting children of color, to the detriment of the children who are exchanged as commodities in the international adoption marketplace."

Not easy reading hey?! The author of this chapter reviewed some popular guides written for prospective adoptive parents on how to make foreign adoption work. These books are generally written by adoptive parents which obviously means they tend to be one-sided. Remember that the above quote is written by a transracial adoptee. The author speaks quite harshly about the ways children have become commodities and rightly so I think (one of my earlier posts was on this same issue). I was struck at how the author defined white privilege and transracial adoptions. I am mostly concerned from the author's review at the lack of preparation that many adoption agencies/guides take to arm prospective adoptive parents with knowledge on cultural and racial literacy. I would say that almost all of what I have learned about transracial parenting has been from my own research.

Stay tuned for the next quote!