Transracial Adoption

Transracial adoption is that in which an adopted child is of a different ethnicity or race than his or her adoptive parents. The ethnic and racial ratios of adopted children to all children in the U.S. are quite different, meaning that there is an uneven distribution between adopted parents and all parents' ethnic relation to their children.

Forty percent of all adopted children in America live in a transracial family, according to the 2007 chartbook Adoption USA, which was published by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, from data collected by the 2007 National Survey of Adoptive Parents and other studies. According to the survey responses, about 73 percent of adoptive parents in America are Caucasian while only 37 percent of adoptees are Caucasian. Disparities in race isn't only true for adopters looking overseas for their child. According to the chartbook, an adopted child is more likely to be African-American than Caucasian.In all adoption scenarios, 63 percent of adoptive parents are Caucasian. Privately adopted children are more likely to be Caucasian. Internationally adopted children are more likely to be Asian (about 59 percent, according to the chartbook).

Transracial adoption, while progressively more accepted, is a family dynamic that requires a little extra work despite being more socially accepted than in previous decades. According to experts, children should be encouraged to explore their cultural roots and have role models of their ethnic background to relate to.