Policymakers, adoption agencies, scholars and media in the U.S. tend to discuss "transracial" and "international" adoption in mutually exclusive terms, and both of these adoption worlds have the habit of ignoring each other. Applying a people of color-centered analysis, however, reveals the shared set of assumptions about race and "the best interests of the child" that underpin policy and practice in both domestic and international transracial adoption.

Race-related assumptions and themes

In discussions of "transracial adoption," the focus is usually on the adoption of African American children by whites. In discussions of "international adoption," adoptions of Asian children by whites dominate. Both are structured in accord with typical assumptions about race in the United States: whites are on top, African Americans and whites are "opposites," and Asians are closest to whites. The idea of African American children being incorporated into white families provokes a strong reaction, whereas Asians becoming assimilated into white society is considered normal. Nevertheless, Asians, still America's #1 foreigners, gain the most visibility in the international adoption scene, while "Black and bi-racial" children are the focus of most domestic policy debates. Rigid borderlines and colorlines are reinforced at the same time that countless studies use assimilation as a key factor in the ability of individual children of color to adjust to their adoptive families.

Policy debates

Advocates of transracial adoption in the U.S. raise the image of multitudes of children of color "languishing in foster care." They talk about the high costs of maintaining children in foster care and accuse critics who object to racism in the child welfare system of privileging adult interests over the immediate needs of children. Similarly, advocates of international adoption dismiss objections based on the unequal relationship between sending and receiving countries as representing adult interests. Typical stories from whites who have adopted international children of color include a note about the high costs associated with intercountry adoption, which they attribute to the inefficiency and corruption of foreign agencies and governments. (Advocates of transracial adoption in the U.S. do not attribute the high costs associated with the foster care system to the inefficiency and corruption of the United States government.)

Those who promote international adoption argue that children around the world are "languishing in orphanages" and that international law requiring the consideration of ethnicity, culture and language in the selection of adoptive parents (such as the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child) merely creates unnecessary barriers for Americans wishing to adopt foreign children. In the U.S., advocates of transracial adoption and foster placements lobbied (successfully) for the passage of the MultiEthnic Placement Act, which requires agencies receiving federal assistance to institute "colorblind" policies, disallowing any consideration of race, color, or national origin when placing children with parents. Just as critics of intercountry adoption point out that Americans' increasing demands for adoptable children put strong pressure on foreign governments to favor international adoption over in-country placements, opponents of transracial adoption in the United States argue that whites' demands that they have access to children of color are the driving force behind this "colorblind" legislation.

A strong analysis of racism in child welfare policies includes an understanding that, ultimately, transracial adoption does nothing to reduce the number of children of color in foster care or orphanages, because it does nothing to address the root causes of those children's presence in the system in the first place. As long as transracial and intercountry adoption are promoted over policies that address the adverse effects of racism, economic oppression, and U.S. militarism on communities of color, children of color will continue to "languish" in numbers disproportionate to their white counterparts.

Assumptions about parenting

Arguments in favor of transracial adoption are based on the racist assumption that people of color are not good parents. White people may need economic or other supports to help keep their families stable and healthy, but this doesn't affect their inherent ability to be good parents to children of all races. Similarly, in debates over international adoption, children's availability for adoption is viewed as proof of their birth parents' incompetence, while white Americans are assumed to be capable of parenting children of any national origin. In the United States, children of color who are transracially adopted and/or fostered typically move from poor and low-income households to middle- and upper-class settings. In the international adoption industry, a significant imbalance in economic and military power exists between sending and receiving countries, and Americans often report that the more money they were willing to spend, the faster the adoption process was completed.

Primacy of the adults' perspectives

Weird cultures have grown up around transracial and international adoption, mostly driven by adoptive parents who want to share stories, tips, and a sense of community with other adoptive parents. Of course, it's framed to appear as if this meets the needs of the adopted children. Articles in glossy adoption and family magazines focus on the hardships and discrimination faced by white adults struggling to raise transracially adopted children. Whites who have adopted children of color, whether internationally or domestically, talk about taking on the important responsibility of transmitting the adopted child's birth culture to the child. Whites who do stuff like start celebrating Kwanzaa, Chinese New Year, and Cinco de Mayo for the sake of their adopted children are commended for their bravery and determination. Both "transracial" and "international" adoption cultures are centered around satisfying the strange desires of white grown-ups.