Many families that immigrate to The United States struggle to provide for themselves and for their children, resulting in their children being placed in foster homes. Children of immigrants have less of an opportunity to make something of themselves than children born in America, even if they are adopted by white families.
One of the articles I read said that transracial adoption is growing in The United States, but a problem is proposed saying that there are racial and ethnic challenges that adoptive families face on a day-to-day basis. These children that are being raised by suburban families start to learn a new culture and their understanding of their original culture slowly deteriorates. Another article written by the Manhattan Psychology Group says that many transracially adopted children face the challenge of feeling different, especially when being raised in a community with people of a dominant race. These children also struggle with being able to handle discrimination and struggle to develop a positive identity for themselves. Parents also struggle with trying to raise their kids to be “color-blind” and not accepting and loving their adopted child’s skin color. An article written on time.com says that parents struggle to teach their adopted children their true culture because they are not educated enough to teach it to them. Parents think it is okay to live their normal lives in their rural communities without giving their adopted child any exposure to their true ethnicity.
This topic of transracial adoption relates to The Leavers because Deming, or Daniel to his new family, suffers from feeling different and losing his understanding of Chinese culture. An example of this is in chapter 2 when he is walking through Chinatown and remembers that he can barely remember how to speak Fuzhounese, which was his native language. Daniel’s parents Elaine and Jim struggled to remind Daniel of his true culture and never appreciate where he came from.
Lee, Richard M. The Transracial Adoption PARADOX: History, Research, and Counseling Implications of Cultural Socialization. Nov. 2003, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2366972/.
MPGteam. “Transracial Adoption: Issues That May Arise and Tips to Overcome Them.” Manhattan Psychology Group, 1 Aug. 2020, manhattanpsychologygroup.com/transracial-adoption-issues-that-may-arise-and-tips-to-overcome-them/.
“The Realities of Raising a Kid of a Different Race.” Time, Time, time.com/the-realities-of-raising-a-kid-of-a-different-race/.