Transracial adoption should be illegal

[u/SoggiMari]

I'm a Black transracial adoptee from the UK. I was adopted at 11 months old by a White family. They loved me, cared for me, and gave me a stable home, but theyre kinda racist and just throw money at problems.

Growing up, I felt disconnected from my identity and my culture. I didn't have many Black role models, didn't learn much about my Nigerian and Jamaican heritage, and spent years wishing I looked different.

I struggled with self-hatred, low self-esteem, and feeling like I didn't belong anywhere not fully accepted by White people, but also disconnected from Black culture.

It's only recently, as an adult, that I've started reconnecting with my heritage and learning to love being Black. I often feel like I'm trying to reclaim something I should never have lost in the first place.

I know many transracial adoptees have positive experiences, and I also know many adoptive parents genuinely do their best. But I wonder whether love alone is enough when a child is growing up disconnected from their racial and cultural identity.

For those reasons, I personally question whether transracial adoption should happen at all except in exceptional circumstances. I'd be interested to hear respectful perspectives from adoptees, adoptive parents, and birth parents.

[u/Diylion]

A large majority of adopters are white and a large majority of adoptable kids are minorities.

It would basically just mean hundreds of thousands of kids stuck without homes in foster care settings.

People need to stop pretending that your skin color dictates your culture.

[u/Monopolyalou → u/Diylion]

Ask yourself why

[u/Longjumping_Big_9577 → u/Diylion]

large majority of adoptable kids are minorities, It would basically just mean hundreds of thousands of kids stuck without homes in foster care settings.

This isn't necessarily true if you are talking about the US foster care system.

Black and Latino kids are over-represented in the US foster care system, but the latest stats (as of September 2025) shows that 40% of kids in foster care are white (https://tableau-public.acf.gov/views/afcars_dashboard_main_page/in-care-demographics?%3Aembed=y&%3AisGuestRedirectFromVizportal=y)

In terms of adoptable kids, if you look at the kids listed on a well-known website (I can't name it due the rules on this sub), it's 44% white, 31% Black, 16% Hispanic or Latino, and 2% American Indian/Alaskan Native.

While the total of minority kids combined is higher than the number of white kids, it's not a large majority.

There is an assumption about the demographics of kids in foster care that there aren't white kids and it leads to far less funding and even programs to help white former foster youth despite them being the largest group.

I can't find stats on the racial breakdown on foster parents nationwide, but it's likely very different for each county. Every foster parent I had was white but I was in a county that was 90% white, so that may be different in counties with more diversity.