Weaving a Family: Untangling Race and Adoption

287 Pages·2006·0.96 MB·English

by  Barbara Katz Rothman

Weaving a Family

e
Weaving a Family
Untangling Race and Adoption
Barbara Katz Rothman
Beacon Press
Boston
Beacon Press books
are published under the auspices of
the Unitarian Universalist Association ofCongregations.
© 2005 by Barbara Katz Rothman
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States ofAmerica
09 08 07 06 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
This book is printed on acid-free paper that meets the uncoated paper
ansi/nisospecifications for permanence as revised in 1992.
Text design by Patricia Duque Campos
Composition by Wilsted & Taylor Publishing Services
Libraryof Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Rothman, Barbara Katz.
Weaving a family : untangling race and adoption /
Barbara Katz Rothman.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn0-8070-2830-4 (pbk. : acid-free paper)
1. Interracial adoption—United States. 2. Interracial
adoption—United States—Case studies. I. Title.
hv875.64.r68 2005
362.734´089´00973—dc22 2004021448
To Cassie, Alexandra, Victoria,
Samantha, and Kaylee, with love
And in loving memory of Carl Colb

Contents
Preface
A Word on Theory, Method, Language
(and Source Notes) ix
Part I
Personal Strands
3
1. Family, Obviously
9
2. Our Story
Part II
Motherhood, Adoption, and Race
27
3. Unraveling the Pieces
30
4. Motherhood in the Marketplace
54
5. Adoption in the Age of Genetics
76
6. Talking About Race
Part III
What I Learned at the Schomburg
95
7. Images
103
8. Children of a Diaspora
111
9. Protégés
120
10. The Pet
134
11. The Trophy Child
12. 142
Imagine
Part IV
Weaving the Pieces
147
13. Home from the Schomburg
153
14. Going Places
162
15. Culture: Celebrating Diversity
174
16. Identity: Pride and Joy
189
17. Entitlement: That Can’t Be Your Baby
18. Hair: Braiding Together Culture,
206
Identity, and Entitlement
225
19. Weaving a Way Home
235
Notes
264
Acknowledgments
266
Index
Preface
A Word on Theory, Method, Language
(and Source Notes)1
This book is written in the vernacular. It relies heavily on spo-
ken English. For a sociologist writing in the early part of the
twenty-first century, this is an unusual choice oflanguage. “You
write well,” my colleagues tell me, as my professors used to—and
it’s not always a compliment. Ifthings are too easy to read, they
don’t always sound serious.
Diƒerent languages are suited to diƒerent tasks. Academic
language obscures feelings and heightens (if obfuscates) intel-
lectual content. The vernacular obscures the theoretical and in-
tellectual substrate and displays emotive content.
It would be a mistake to read academic language and think
it is devoid of values, feelings, or experience. It is no less a mis-
take to read the vernacular and think it is devoid of theory and
research.
The language I’ve chosen is ordinary, everyday English, and
that language is a rich and nuanced one. My word choices are
deliberate, reflecting my values and politics. I’m writing about
raising children, and about race. We have so many words to use
ix