Abstract
Individual whites who adopt children of another race admittedly have a range of motivations, and many manage to transcend racism in their adoptions and their subsequent family lives. However, transracial adoption as a socio-legal phenomenon remains racialized. Participants have preferences and standing related to their races, and transracial adoption reflects and reinforces the nation’s dominant racial hierarchy. In the area of transracial adoption and in the society as a whole, a “post-racial” era has not dawned, even with the election of a President who was in part raised abroad and understands himself as a man of color. In the contemporary United States, race remains associated with power or the lack thereof, and race-related power continues to play a role in many troubling ways.
Recommended Citation
Papke, David Ray
(2013)
"Transracial Adoption in the United States: The Reflection and Reinforcement of Racial Hierarchy,"
Utah Law Review: Vol. 2013:
No.
4, Article 4.
Available at:
https://dc.law.utah.edu/ulr/vol2013/iss4/4