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Transnational Adoption

Transnational adoption are individuals who are adopted internationally as children and raised in a different country. "It is the ways in which adoptions are not simply one way journeys but unfolding process that "entail ongoing, criss-crossing flows in multiple directions." Transnational adoption provokes questions about race, culture, and nation, about genes, kinship, and belonging; and about the politics of sneding and receiving nations, poor and rich, powerless and powerful. A child who is adopted embraces their culture of origins and their new culture. In most cases, sending countries tend to be poorer, developing nonWhite nations and receiving countries tend to be wealthier, developed White nations. Transnational adoption originated more than fifty years ago in the aftermath of World War II and the Korean War. Many children were abandoned because of these wars. In the early 1990s, the adoption of children across national borders began to accelerate at an astonishing rate.Changes that occured in the last decade of the twentieth century have been dramatic. In an earlier era, adoption across borders was assumed to be straightforward. The child was expected to grow up and remain simply a "white" American.In todays society children who are adopted are expected to embrace and explore their multiple identities

It is a difficult process when trying to adopt a child outside the country. The United States has laws that you have to comply with and also the country you are adopting from has laws. Transnational adoption laws can be complicated, and the legal adoption of an alien child does not in itslef guarantess him/her immigration privileges. Under U.S. immigration law, a foreign-born child is an orphan if he does not have any parents because of the death or disappearance of, abandonment or disertion by, or seperation or loss from, both parents. A foreign-born child is also an orphan if his or her sole or surviving parent is not able to take proper care of the child and has, in writing, irrevocably released the child for emigration and adoption.

An alien adopted child may only qualify for immigration into the United States if he/she meets the technical defintion of an "adopted child." Three criteria must apply: 1. The adoption occurs prior to the child's 16th birthday. 2. The adoptive parents had have legal custody of the child for two years (before or after the adoption). 3. The child has resided with the adoptive parent for two years (before or after the adoption). After that the parents must file an immigration petition and request that the USCIS notify a U.S. Consultant in the country where the child lives. USCIS stands for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and is the agency of the U.S. government principally responsible in matters dealing with aliens in the United States. Each country has different standards on adoption. Adoptive parents have to also comply with their laws.

Why do Americans adopt overseas while there is a need of adoption in America?

The truth is that America is a sending country as well as the largest receiving country for international adoption. The question Lee asks, "Why do white parents feel more comfortable adopting a child internationally from Africa but not a Black child from Georgia?" She states "Some argue it is because adoptive parents do not want birthparents to reclaim their child and others argue that adopting from Africa is more "humanitarian" or "exotic."Many Americans feel like they are saving a life and taking the children out of the slums. The United States is a sending country and families from Canada and Europe are adopting anyhere from 500-800 African American and mixed race children from the USA.

Why adoptive parents choose China to adopt?

Adoptive parents prefer to adopt in China beacause the process is quick and easy and continuous information is provided. Adoption statistics for the fiscal years 1988-2004 list a total of 47,501 U.S. immigrant visas issued to Chinese "orphans." Many parents prepare themselves before adopting by reading about and studying China, often giving the children Chinese names, and making sincere attempts to teach the children about their Chinese heritage. The adoptions are finalized in China and there is never an issue of dealing with birth parents. Many children who are adopted from China are mostly infant girls and boys with birth defects. The main reason girls are adopted more then boys is because of the "One Child" policy. She states "It is the parents responsibility to produce at least one son because of a traditional notion that a son could contribute to the families income and then take care for parents in old age." That is why a boy is valued more than girls. Americans flocked to China for transnational adoptions in even greater numbers precisely because they regarded it as a safe choice, due to the steps the Chinese government took to ensure that each child was legally available for adoption. One of the documents supplied to adoptive parents is a statement concerning the child's "abandonmnent."

Transnational Adoption Paradox

"Individuals who were adopted internationally as children and raised in a different cultural/national context- almost always by parents of a different ethnic/racial background- must negotiate the involuntary displacement and loss of their birth family, birth culture, and heritage/history and the subsequent placement within an adoptive family with a new nationality via assimilation." It is the questioning of "Who am I?" It is about the pro and cons that an adoptive child has. Some consequences of the paradox is unresolved questions, fears and feeling of loss that many adoptees have. Many return back to their birth country to find their birth families. Although there are no reliable statistics on adoptee returns, but there is rough estimate around 3,000 to 5,000 per year, with the majority of short visits and an estimated 200 living in Korea for extended periods.