African American adoptions: an exploratory study of post-adoption outcomes among African American adoptive families who have adopted children from African American adoption agencies
Abstract
The parents of 83 African American special-needs children who adopted through two
private African American adoption agencies in California were surveyed regarding
their post-adoption adjustment, satisfaction with their adoptions, parenting stress and
children’s behavior. Parenting stress levels were measured using the Parenting Stress
Inventory (Abidin, 1986) and child’s behavior was measured using the Child
Behavior Checklist (Achenbach & Edelbrock, 1983). Comparisons were made of
outcomes between single and two-parent adoptive families and infant and older child
adoptive families. The sample was comprised of 24 single-parent and 58 two-parent
x
adoptive families. No significant differences were found in outcomes for younger
child adopters (36 months or less at the time of adoption) versus those who adopted
older children (37 months or more at the time of adoption) child adopters. Though
children who were adopted before the age of three had lower CBCL total problem,
internalizing and externalizing scores when compared to children who were adopted
after the age of three, the parents of children who were adopted before the age of
three expressed less overall satisfaction with their adoptions than did the parents of
children adopted after the age of three.
Children of single adoptive parents had significantly higher (p = .020) CBCL
externalizing scores than did children in two-parent families. However, they were not
more likely to have externalizing scores in the clinical range. No other significant
differences in outcomes among single and two-parent adoptive families were found.
Results also indicated that, though the differences were not statistically significant,
single adoptive parents had lower Parenting Stress Inventory total scores than did
married adoptive parents.
This sample of African American adoptive families was unique in that they
very much mirrored the demographic profile of White private agency adopters. As
with White private agency adopters, the African American adoptive parents in the
sample were highly educated, with 95% of mothers and 86.6% of fathers having
graduated from college. They tended to work in full-time professional occupations,
earned high yearly gross incomes (mean = $67,124) and were most likely (42.7%) to
cite infertility as their primary motivation to adopt. While the sample had similar
demographic backgrounds to White private agency adopters, they differed in that the
African American adoptive families in this sample were most likely to adopt children
who were older (mean age at adoption = 22.16 months for sample vs. 1 month for
Whites) and in child welfare custody (62.2%).
Department
Description
text
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.
-
Evaluating Changes in Chinese International Adoption: How China’s Adoption Policies Shaped Adoptive Parent Experiences
Sparkman, Emily (2021-05)The year 2021 marks the thirtieth anniversary of the international arrangement that allowed American citizens to adopt children from China. The Chinese government’s decision to implement transnational adoption policies ... -
Considerations for creative commons : an examination for motivations of adoption or non-adoption of creative commons licenses
Gloria, Marie Joan Tanedo (2011-05)This paper proposes an examination of Creative Commons (CC) licensing and considerations for adoption or non adoption among musicians. According to the Creative Commons Web site, the licenses were created to work alongside ... -
The Addis Ababa document on refugees and forced population displacements in Africa: Adopted by the OAU/UNHCR symposium Held in Commemoration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the adoption of the 1969 OAU Convention Governing the specific aspects of refugee Problems in Africa and the twentieth year of its entry into force
ORGANISATION FOR AFRICAN UNITY (OAU) / UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES (UNHCR) (Reseau Documentaire International Sur la Region de Grands Lacs Africains, 1994-09-10)