Birthmarks: Transracial Adoption in Contemporary America

237 Pages·2000·0.94 MB·English

by  Sandra Patton

BirthMarks

Sandra Patton
BirthMarks
Transracial Adoption in
Contemporary America
a

New York University Press
New York and London
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS

New York and London

Copyright © 2000 by New York University

All rights reserved

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Patton, Sandra Lee.

BirthMarks : Transracial adoption in contemporary America /

Sandra Patton.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 0-8147-6681-1 (cloth : alk. paper) —
ISBN 0-8147-6682-X (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Interracial adoption—United States. 2. Adoptees—United States—
Interviews. 3. Afro-Americans—Race identity. 4. Adoption—
Government policy—United States. I. Title: Birth marks.
II. Adoption—Government policy—United States. II. Title.
HV875.64 .P37 2000
362.73'4'0973—dc21 00-010141
New York University Press books are printed on acid-free paper,
and their binding materials are chosen for strength and durability.
Manufactured in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
In memory of

my father, my friend,

Robert Bleakney Patton,

who instilled in me a passion for social justice,

and taught me to know a good story when I heard one.

CONTENTS

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction: Narratives of Adoption, Roots, and Identity 1

ONE
Origin Narratives 28

TWO
Navigating Racial Routes 62

THREE
Searching: “I Have a Family with No Blood” 99

FOUR
Producing “IL/Legitimate” Citizens: Transracial Adoption

and Welfare Reform 130

Conclusion: Narratives of Identity, Race, and Nation 168

Notes 193

Bibliography 197

Index 217

About the Author 223

| vii |

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS�
This study would not have been possible without the generosity of time,
insight, and emotion of the adoptees and social workers I interviewed. I
wish to thank the social workers I spoke with for teaching me what the
adoption world looks like from their perspective, as well as for the enor­
mous help many of them provided me in my search for adoptees to
interview. I am particularly indebted to the twenty-two transracial
adoptees who shared their narratives about their lives and identities with
me. For many of them, and certainly for myself, these interviews were
profound, intense encounters that not only shaped this research, but also
our sense of self as adoptees. I am deeply grateful to them for the stories
they shared with me.
I would like to thank my teachers and mentors at the University of
Maryland, College Park, for their generous support and wise counsel
throughout the research and writing of this study. I am particularly in­
debted to my dissertation advisor, John L. Caughey, whose thoughtful
and meditative guidance, reflective questions, and generous insights into
questions of identity, culture, and consciousness were invaluable. I am
deeply grateful to Bonnie Thornton Dill for her thoughtful engagement
in and incisive perspective on the issues of families, children, women, and
race that we are both so committed to, as well as her graceful example as
a politically engaged scholar-activist. I must thank Deborah S. Rosenfelt
for initially suggesting adoption as a dissertation topic. Our common
personal connections to the subject have fueled provocative and fruitful
discussions during the course of this research, and her generous insights
and unflagging support have contributed immeasurably to its comple­
tion. In addition, Claire Moses, Michael Agar, Myron Lounsbury, and
Rhonda Williams have contributed enormously to this study.
I am indebted to Rickie Solinger for her profoundly helpful comments
and critiques. Her research on single pregnancy and her suggestions
when I was revising my dissertation for publication were invaluable. I
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