We Just Wanted a Child Who Looked Like Us: Racial Negotiations in Intercountry Adoption

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Abstract

Reproduction is a stratified process – outcomes, opportunities, and options are constrained by race, class, and gender. State policies and social practices enable some optimize their reproduction options while others are severely constrained (Foucault 1990; Ginsburg and Rapp 1991). In the U.S. wealthy, White, heterosexually married couples are in the best position to navigate reproductive markets. Reproductive options now include expanding technologies, international medical tourism, and intercountry adoption (among many others). Parents with the resources to do so now have the ability to make choices about the health, racial/ethnic group, gender, and other characteristics of their children. How do those with the greatest access to reproductive options understand their place in reproductive markets? How do White parents negotiate racial/ethnic preferences in reproductive markets?
To answer my research questions, I focus on intercountry adoption – one of many child markets. Child markets assign varying monetary values to children based on a number of characteristics. Parents (who are overwhelmingly upper middle class and White) participating in Intercountry adoption markets provide a window for us to understand how the value of children is constructed. I interviewed 17 parents who adopted through ICA with a focus on decision-making, parental preference, and legal processes. Parent’s racial attitudes or avoidance of the topic of racial differences perpetuate colorblind racism. Participants either used coded language to discuss racial preferences or dismissed the role race played in their decision making. I analyzed the data using concepts introduced by Bonilla-Silva to demonstrate how individual preferences and coded language contributes to a racially stratified reproductive market (2004; 2014). The aim of this paper is to examine the extent to which colorblind ideology reinforces racially stratified reproductive markets.

Author

• Elle Rochford, Purdue University