Awards
- Winner of Choice Outstanding Academic Title 2016
Overview
While many proponents of transracial adoption claim that American society is increasingly becoming ""color-blind,"" a growing body of research reveals that for transracial adoptees of all backgrounds, racial identity does matter. Rhonda M. Roorda elaborates significantly on that finding, specifically studying the effects of the adoption of black and biracial children by white parents. She incorporates diverse perspectives on transracial adoption by concerned black Americans of various ages, including those who lived through Jim Crow and the Civil Rights era. All her interviewees have been involved either personally or professionally in the lives of transracial adoptees, and they offer strategies for navigating systemic racial inequalities while affirming the importance of black communities in the lives of transracial adoptive families. In Their Voices is for parents, child-welfare providers, social workers, psychologists, educators, therapists, and adoptees from all backgrounds who seek clarity about this phenomenon. The author examines how social attitudes and federal policies concerning transracial adoption have changed over the last several decades. She also includes suggestions on how to revise transracial adoption policy to better reflect the needs of transracial adoptive families. Perhaps most important, In Their Voices is packed with advice for parents who are invested in nurturing a positive self-image in their adopted children of color and the crucial perspectives those parents should consider when raising their children. It offers adoptees of color encouragement in overcoming discrimination and explains why a ""race-neutral"" environment, maintained by so many white parents, is not ideal for adoptees or their families.
Full Product Details
Author: Rhonda Roorda ,
Rhonda M. Roorda
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Imprint: Columbia University Press
Dimensions:
Width: 15.20cm
, Height: 1.80cm
, Length: 22.90cm
Weight: 0.454kg
ISBN: 9780231172219
ISBN 10: 0231172214
Pages: 352
Publication Date: 03 November 2015
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
College/higher education
,
Professional & Vocational
,
Tertiary & Higher Education
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: Manufactured on demand
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.
Language: English
Reviews
A straight-forward statement on the problem of developing positive racial identity for transracial adoptees. It provides a clear context for the problem, and a creative response through twenty-three interviews with persons who have credibility to speak to the issue. -- Betsy Vonk, School of Social Work at University of Georgia
A straight-forward statement on the problem of developing positive racial identity for transracial adoptees. It provides a clear context for the problem, and a creative response through sixteen interviews with persons who have credibility to speak to the issue. -- Betsy Vonk, School of Social Work at University of Georgia In the fourth installment of In Their Voices, Roorda delivers the missing voice of black and biracial non-adopted adults on the topic of race, family, identity and adoption. The transcribed interviews, laid bare without analysis, convey the keen insights of her participants as well as pieces of her own story. In journeying through the reflections of persons who grew up during Jim Crow Era, Civil Rights Era, and Post-Civil Rights Era, readers will likely come to realize that the identity work for any person who is racialized in our society is complex, context-tied, and a lifetime process. This book is not preachy, nor overly academic, and unique for its historically situated organizing of the interviews by generation. Thanks Rhonda Roorda, for keeping the conversation of racial socialization and identity going within and beyond the adoption community! -- Gina Samuels, University of Chicago
A straight-forward statement on the problem of developing positive racial identity for transracial adoptees. It provides a clear context for the problem, and a creative response through sixteen interviews with persons who have credibility to speak to the issue. -- Betsy Vonk, School of Social Work at University of Georgia In the fourth installment of In Their Voices, Roorda delivers the missing voice of black and biracial non-adopted adults on the topic of race, family, identity and adoption. The transcribed interviews, laid bare without analysis, convey the keen insights of her participants as well as pieces of her own story. In journeying through the reflections of persons who grew up during Jim Crow Era, Civil Rights Era, and Post-Civil Rights Era, readers will likely come to realize that the identity work for any person who is racialized in our society is complex, context-tied, and a lifetime process. This book is not preachy, nor overly academic, and unique for its historically situated organizing of the interviews by generation. Thanks Rhonda Roorda, for keeping the conversation of racial socialization and identity going within and beyond the adoption community! -- Gina Samuels, University of Chicago An important and frank book that deepens the conversation around transracial adoption. Roorda examines the history of transracial adoption in America as well as the challenges black adoptees face in white households, broaching topics that few dare talk about but most think about. Every transracial adoptive family should have this on their bookshelf. -- Julia Scheeres, Author of Jesus Land: A Memoir Rhonda Roorda has made a major contribution to the study of transracial adoption by introducing into scholarly discussion the impressions and memories of adoptees and others intimately associated with this important, albeit neglected, facet of American race relations. While sharing forthrightly her own views, Roorda displays an impressive ability to elicit and document a wide array of beliefs and sentiments that have played important roles in shaping the contours of interracial adoption policy. In Their Voices is a fascinating compilation, intelligently edited, that will hopefully receive a broad readership. -- Randall Kennedy, Harvard University At a time when a post-racial society remains an elusive fantasy--In Their Voices is indispensable. This book represents the dinner party I wish my parents had thrown--full of interesting African-Americans whose wisdom I now know reflects my own experience. Whether formed through adoption or marriage, multiracial families looking for tools to raise healthy children of color will find Rhonda Roorda's latest contribution to be a valuable resource. -- Phil Bertelsen, Filmmaker, The African Americas: Many Rivers to Cross
Author Information
Rhonda M. Roorda, M.A., was adopted into a white family and raised with two nonadopted siblings. She is a national speaker on transracial adoption and a recipient of the Judge John P. Steketee Adoption Hero Award from the Adoptive Family Support Network (MI). With Rita J. Simon, she coauthored a landmark trilogy of books on transracial adoption (In Their Own Voices, In Their Parents' Voices, and In Their Siblings' Voices). She works as a fund administrator at an educational advocacy organization in Lansing, Michigan.
