So between Michael Gove and Tim Loughton they are certainly keeping the subject of adoption in the public eye. Many accusations are being levied at adoption agencies up and down the country. Tim feels that there is a discrepancy between the numbers of adoption agencies that are achieving good and outstanding ratings from Ofsted and the national picture of adoption. Their main concern seems to be the drop in numbers of adopted children. “children; are languishing in the care system” apparently because agencies do not want to place ethnic minority children with white adopters. Hmmm
I have been asked if I have an opinion on the current debate and the answer of course is yes. I have an opinion about most things. It is true however that my opinions on this subject are influenced by two factors, 1) I work in adoption and 2) I am a dual heritage person.
Tim Loughton and Michael Grove, seem to be of the opinion that cultural identity just does not matter, “love” apparently is all that a child needs. Well what a wonderful world we would live in if this were actually the case.
There is one set of figures that neither Tim or Michel is making any reference too. These are the figures that create an uneasy feeling for all committed Social Workers and bring devastation to children and their families. We all love to believe that adoption is the happy ever after for children and their new parents. Social Workers up and down this country comfort themselves when they achieve adoption for a child now feeling assured that this child who has experienced the trauma of abuse and/or neglect, the trauma of being removed from the only carers they had ever known are now going to live happily ever after with their new parents. However, as all Social Workers know far too well, this is not always the case. Large numbers of adopted children return to the care system later on in their lives as their adopters find they simply cannot manage their behaviours as their adopted children grow older. Adoption breakdown is the term we use to describe such events and they were at around 20% in 2008; seriously 2 in every 10 children who are adopted will end up back in the care system. Imagine the trauma for those children, they are removed from their birth parents, something they often internalise as rejection and then they have to leave the parents that chose them. Double Rejection!
For me, one of the most important factors to consider and one that appears to have been somewhat overlooked in recent debates, is that most of the children adopted out of care now do not share the same characteristics and experiences of the babies that were adopted in the sixties. The average age of a child being adopted in the UK
The truth is that there are in fact a number of factors outside of love that effect the chances of an adoption placement working and as the politicians have rightly communicated, research generally concurs that the age of the said child at the time of placement is one of the single most important factors. I for one completely agree that no child for whom adoption is in their best interest should be left in foster care whilst Social Workers hold out for a perfect match. Perfect matches are rarely found but good matches are a regular occurrence.
I do however completely refute the idea that all that is wrong with adoption is that Social Workers refuse to place ethnic minority children with the millions of waiting available and willing white adopters. As usual within mainstream media this debate lacks any real balance. As somebody who works in adoption I can report that in my small authority we have made at least 5 trans-racial placements in the last twelve months. Sadly I can also reports that despite this we still have too many Black and dual heritage children waiting to be adopted. We also have a small number of adopters waiting to adopt. So why don’t we just give them the waiting children. Simply put, they do not want them!
Most of the White British adopters that approach our agency have done so because they have been unable to conceive naturally and they now want to adopt a White British child who ideally looks something like them no older than 3. Hence it is not only black and dual heritage children we find difficult to place but any child aged 4 and above.
Should we just take away their choice and tell people that if they want to adopt then they will just have to take what they are offered??? Anyone who works in the field knows exactly what this approach would lead to. Yes we are back to the subject of adoption breakdowns. As we are back on that subject let me also point out that research also indicates that one of the many small things that help an adoptive placement work is the adopter’s ability to empathise with their child and promote their identity needs.
There are many White British people who are more than able to do this for a child of a different ethnicity. People who are open to other cultures, people who have friends and family members from different nationalities, people who like to experiment with different foods and have an inclination to travel where possible. I hear you saying aren’t most people like this? My experience say’s actually NO. Some people cannot comprehend the issues that a black or Asian child growing up in a white family would face; have zero understanding with regards to structural inequalities, they have no idea how they would support them through racism and how they would help such a child build a positive self-image. They are so convinced that we are all the same that no amount of training seems to convince them that they might have to make some changes to accommodate a child of a different ethnicity to their own. Their expectation is that the child will just assimilate into the culture of their family; they will lose their own distinctiveness and take on the distinctiveness of the said White British family.
Bearing this in mind I have failed to hear in the debate any discussion about the importance of maintaining a child’s cultural identity. The people who have printed their stories of trans-racial adoption have talked about being loved, being given opportunities but no mention of their personal cultural identity or how they identify with their birth community. In fact in this debate I fear the politicians do not hold any regard to the importance of maintaining ones cultural identity. I on the other hand have read and heard many other stories about trans-racial placements where in the main people have spoken about being loved but have also spoken about feeling different, inadequate and some who have searched out their cultural identity on their own as adults.
As a dual heritage person I have made it my business to use the research that is available when undertaking assessments of adopters in relation to trans-racial placements. I do this because I am aware that my own experiences and values could impact upon my work in this area. I see myself as being extremely secure in my identity. I have never experienced the identity crisis that many of my dual heritage friends have conversed about. I always knew that I was both black and white and I always felt completely happy with that fact. In fact I have felt privileged to be a part of two communities simultaneously. Two communities I hear some of you say. We surely should be just one community fashioned out of the “melting pot” of a cosmopolitan society.
As somebody who flows freely between two differing cultures I would argue that the knowledge and experience of one’s cultural heritage is life enriching but I fear that discussion is for another day.
To conclude. Yes to trans-racial placements but it would be nice if Minister Gove and Minister Loughton showed a little more balance in their outcry’s about the failing adoption policies they seem to think we have. It would also be nice if they showed a little more insight into the complex issues faced when placing a six year old child from a minority ethnic group with white adopters. And please, please lets us not lose sight of the fact that White British adopters adopting from another ethnic group must have the skills and the lifestyle to be able to promote a positive sense of identity as well as the unconditional Love that every child needs.
