Perspectives of African American adoptive parents on same race adoption

George Warren Caulton, Boston College

Abstract

The purposes of this qualitative study were to gain insight into the experience of African American same race adoptive parents and to examine their perspective on the adoption process: what motivated and sustained them; how they made decisions about adoption; what barriers they encountered; and how they overcame them. Data were obtained from a non-probability sample of thirteen African Americans consisting of four couples and five single-females, including one divorced female with four biological children. All couples and four of the five single-females were childless at the time of initial adoption. The couples stated they were "infertile", while the single-females practiced what I termed "sociological infertility" because they felt that adoption was the only moral way for them to have children. Nine in-depth audio taped interviews were conducted, seven home-based and two office-based, using a twenty-five-question semi-structured interview protocol. Participants were typically middle-class and had attended or graduated from college. They held professional and managerial occupations and had solid socio-economic status. The majority were age forty or above and, as a group, they were very articulate. All were religiously affiliated and many expressed the importance of faith in their daily lives. Although participants preferred young, healthy female children (which is no different from non-African American adoptive parents), they demonstrated flexibility in discarding some preferences when presented by the social worker with an actual child. Some participants expressed multiple fears, based on having experienced past discrimination in the adoption process. Some of the first-time parents expressed uncertainty about parenting and were more comfortable initially adopting younger children, preferably female. After gaining parenting confidence, some parents subsequently adopted children characterized as "hard to place." Other findings were that legal-risk adoption creates uncertainty for children and adoptive parents. Adoptive parents' disclosure of their adoption status to others can help "bridge" the gap between the agency and the Black community in relation to adoption recruitment and retention.

Recommended Citation

George Warren Caulton, "Perspectives of African American adoptive parents on same race adoption" (January 1, 2005). Boston College Dissertations and Theses. Paper AAI3167356.
http://escholarship.bc.edu/dissertations/AAI3167356