and didn’t develop a strong identity until enrolling in Mills College, an all-women’s college in Oakland. She felt isolated growing up in predominantly White neighborhoods around the U.S. Noerdlinger, whose Black brother was also adopted, says she paid a hefty price for her parents’ idealism. “They saw racial distinctions as dangerous.” “My parents believed we could be color-blind,” she says. The 41-year-old, who is Black, was adopted as an infant by Peter and Judy Noerdlinger, a White couple from New Mexico who also had biological children. The latter scenario mirrors Rachel Noerdlinger’s experience.
“They tend to move away from home and seek out ways to become part of their ethnic community.” “But if White parents treat race as if it doesn’t matter, kids have to figure out what it means to be of color on their own,” says Judy Stigger, an adoption therapist at The Cradle, a Chicago-area agency that offers courses for families that have transracially adopted. “Our position is about preserving Black families.”īy and large, outcomes for children adopted by parents of a different race are positive. “We’re not saying transracial adoption is totally out of consideration,” says Toni Oliver, NABSW vice-president. The organization has since updated its stance. Will the child be exposed to Black culture? How will he or she develop a healthy sense of self? Does the parent realize that a postracial America is an illusion?įor decades the National Association of Black Social Workers (NABSW) remained “vehemently opposed” to transracial adoptions. Many question whether Whites are truly up to the challenge. While Whites adopt children of other races as well (a source familiar with Theron’s situation told ESSENCE that “most people do not choose what type of child they adopt”), the transracial adoption conversation gets particularly heated when a Black child is involved. The recent spate of adoptions of Black children by famous Whites has reignited the debate over whether transracial adoptions are in the best interest of the child. are focusing domestically, where the process may be easier to navigate. And with international adoptions plummeting due to factors including greater scrutiny-placements from China, Guatemala and Ethiopia are on the decline, for example-more families in the U.S. In the case of celebrities who adopt Black babies, some have participated in humanitarian missions and become aware of the many Black children who need homes.
For many women, celebrity or not, the desire to parent supersedes all other considerations, including the race of the child. One reason: More people don’t start thinking about having children until their late thirties and early forties, a time when fertility becomes a challenge. Transracial adoption, or families of one race adopting a child of another, has been steadily on the rise for decades. Many more.īut this is not merely a celebrity phenomenon. When actress Charlize Theron brought son Jackson home in March, she joined a growing list of White celebrities who have adopted Black babies in recent years.
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