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| Mixed-race adoption: children, not dogma, must come first | Mixed-race adoption: children, not dogma, must come first |
| (7 months later) | |
| The headline "Adoptive parents can give food and shelter; but they can't understand who I really am" (News, headline changed in later editions), linking our study of 100 women adopted from Hong Kong in the 1960s and the current adoption reforms, is somewhat misleading. The primary question we wanted to answer was: given their poor start in life, how did the women fare over 50 years? Does adoption into a loving family, despite the many differences between the girls, the adopters and the communities they went to live in, mitigate these early adversities or did they have a substantial impact throughout life? We thought the latter but we were wrong and, at the age of 50, the women were similar across a range of measures to most of their peers. That is a very important finding and a very good news story. | The headline "Adoptive parents can give food and shelter; but they can't understand who I really am" (News, headline changed in later editions), linking our study of 100 women adopted from Hong Kong in the 1960s and the current adoption reforms, is somewhat misleading. The primary question we wanted to answer was: given their poor start in life, how did the women fare over 50 years? Does adoption into a loving family, despite the many differences between the girls, the adopters and the communities they went to live in, mitigate these early adversities or did they have a substantial impact throughout life? We thought the latter but we were wrong and, at the age of 50, the women were similar across a range of measures to most of their peers. That is a very important finding and a very good news story. |
| But we know that differences did and continue to play a part in the lives of these women – racism, discrimination and a sense of loss did endure. They are part of the message, but they are only a part. | But we know that differences did and continue to play a part in the lives of these women – racism, discrimination and a sense of loss did endure. They are part of the message, but they are only a part. |
| Lessons for adoption today are not straightforward. Most adoptions are of children who have been maltreated. Difference plays a substantial part but this ranges across multiple factors, not just racial origin, culture, religion and language. It may not be an easy message, but politicians, policy-makers and professionals need to be somewhat more nuanced in addressing the challenge of finding loving families for some of the most vulnerable children in society and that includes the use of available research findings. | Lessons for adoption today are not straightforward. Most adoptions are of children who have been maltreated. Difference plays a substantial part but this ranges across multiple factors, not just racial origin, culture, religion and language. It may not be an easy message, but politicians, policy-makers and professionals need to be somewhat more nuanced in addressing the challenge of finding loving families for some of the most vulnerable children in society and that includes the use of available research findings. |
| Dr John Simmonds, director of policy, research and development | Dr John Simmonds, director of policy, research and development |
| British Association for Adoption and Fostering, London EC1 | British Association for Adoption and Fostering, London EC1 |
| Mark Townsend's commendable effort to bring some balance to the discussion of transracial adoption cannot disguise the fact that he is using a study of people adopted from Hong Kong in the 1960s to draw inferences about what, say, a black child adopted domestically into a white family might experience today. Worse is the fact that the British Association for Adoption and Fostering, which commissioned the study, appears to be colluding. The key message of its report simply reiterated what several earlier studies have shown and what anyone involved in transracial adoption now knows: that race and culture must not be neglected. | Mark Townsend's commendable effort to bring some balance to the discussion of transracial adoption cannot disguise the fact that he is using a study of people adopted from Hong Kong in the 1960s to draw inferences about what, say, a black child adopted domestically into a white family might experience today. Worse is the fact that the British Association for Adoption and Fostering, which commissioned the study, appears to be colluding. The key message of its report simply reiterated what several earlier studies have shown and what anyone involved in transracial adoption now knows: that race and culture must not be neglected. |
| The real question is not whether Michael Gove's proposed changes to adoption practice are right or wrong, but whether they will be accompanied by the increase in resources and training needed to make them work. On present form, it seems likely that these resources will be depleted rather than augmented. | The real question is not whether Michael Gove's proposed changes to adoption practice are right or wrong, but whether they will be accompanied by the increase in resources and training needed to make them work. On present form, it seems likely that these resources will be depleted rather than augmented. |
| Philip Ball | Philip Ball |
| London SE22 | London SE22 |
| As white parents of two sons and adoptive parents of two unrelated mixed-race children, a daughter and a son, both born in this country in the 1970s to a white mother and an African-Caribbean father, we think that the articles on mixed-race adoption emphasised perceived negative effects that may have little to do with adoption. Many people raised in their biological families have "bad experiences even when genuinely loved" and complain about "a lack of understanding and support". Some even "eventually turn to therapy to overcome" problems. And what relevance to adoption by white families does suffering of racial abuse in our imperfect society have? | As white parents of two sons and adoptive parents of two unrelated mixed-race children, a daughter and a son, both born in this country in the 1970s to a white mother and an African-Caribbean father, we think that the articles on mixed-race adoption emphasised perceived negative effects that may have little to do with adoption. Many people raised in their biological families have "bad experiences even when genuinely loved" and complain about "a lack of understanding and support". Some even "eventually turn to therapy to overcome" problems. And what relevance to adoption by white families does suffering of racial abuse in our imperfect society have? |
| Of course, in an ideal world it would be better for mixed-race children to be raised by parents of the same ethnicity, but when the choice is between a permanent family of different ethnicity and an institution such as a council home, surely there is no contest. | Of course, in an ideal world it would be better for mixed-race children to be raised by parents of the same ethnicity, but when the choice is between a permanent family of different ethnicity and an institution such as a council home, surely there is no contest. |
| Simon and Marta Hardy | Simon and Marta Hardy |
| York | York |
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