How does transracial adoption — the adoption of children of color by white parents — reflect the color line in the United States? In this presentation, Liz Raleigh, Assistant Professor of Sociology, tackles this question by examining race and kinship through a market based framework. From an analysis of the US Census, she shows how white parents are more likely to adopt Asian and Hispanic children over black children. Yet her qualitative research drawn from interviews with adoption social workers complicates the demographic data by showing how some black children — specifically foreign-born and biracial black children — are often seen as more desirable by prospective adoptive parents. Her presentation concludes with implications for child well-being among transracially adopted children.
This program took place on Thursday, May 14, 2015
About the Speaker
Liz Raleigh, assistant professor of sociology (University of Pennsylvania, PhD) is a sociologist of race and the family. Her research focuses on how the supply and demand for babies shapes the pipeline and market for children available for adoption. As a mixed methods scholar, Raleigh conducts quantitative research using nationally representative data sets but also enjoys collecting people’s stories and analyzing qualitative interviews. She teaches as array of courses on the changing conception of family, racial categorization, acculturation amongst Asian immigrants, adoption and assisted reproductive technologies, and social statistics.