ADULT KOREAN INTERCOUNTRY ADOPTEES: A RESOURCE FOR ADOPTION PRACTICE
8 Introduction On January 13, 1903, the first Korean immigrants to the United States arrived in Honolulu, Hawaii, on the S.S. Gaelic. In commemoration, President George W. Bush issued a proclamation declaring January 13, 2003 as the “Centennial of Korean Immigration to the United States.” Throughout the year, programs, ceremonies, and activities honoring Korean immigrants and their descendants have been scheduled to celebrate the contributions of Korean-Americans over the past one-hundred years. There was a time when I would not have identified with the millions of Koreans who risked everything for the hope of a new life in a new land. Like them, I was born in Korea and came to the United States with the hope of a better life. But unlike them, I did not travel with family or knowledge of my blood roots nor did I have to learn a new culture and language all on my own. My arrival to the United States at the age of three was eagerly awaited; I had become an American through adoption.
The Experience and Understanding of Racial Difference in Families Among Adults of Color Adopted by White Parents
The Experience and Understanding of Racial Difference in Families Among Adults of Color Adopted by White Parents Rebecca M. Redington The notion of normality in families is socially constructed. In fact, so-called traditional families represent only 3% of households in the United States. The presence of dissimilarity in families has given rise to a deficit model, where families constructed outside of the norm are recognized as vulnerable to problems and likely candidates for intervention. At the same time, mental health practitioners indicate feeling unequipped to address the concerns of these families. Rather than assume nontraditional families are destined for maladaptive outcomes, research must investigate how family members address differences to produce strong, high functioning families. As such, the purpose of this qualitative investigation was to a) identify what transracially adopted individuals think and feel about their own race and the race of their parents/other adoptive family members, b) understand how racial differences are addressed in families formed through transracial adoption, and c) elucidate how transracially adopted individuals are affected (in childhood and adulthood) by ways in which their parents address or do not address issues of race with them. Data was collected through 13 semi-structured interviews with adults of color who were transracially adopted by White parents. Participant narratives were transcribed and then analyzed using Consensual Qualitative Research (CQR). Results illustrate the complexity of identity formation and parent/child relationships in the lives of transracial adoptees. Racial messages received from family members and communities are identified, including themes of colorblindness, racial discrimination, and having no sense of belonging. Participants described various ways in which they dealt with race-related messages on their own, through methods of isolation and avoidance. They also discussed negative emotional responses to race-related encounters, such as confusion, anger, and anxiety. Participants’ experiences of their own racial identity, as well as their relationship to their birth race and culture, are described. Suggestions for prospective White transracial adoptive parents are made, including the importance of incorporating adoptees’ birth race and culture within family life. Finally, implications for mental health practitioners working with transracial adoptive families, limitations, and suggestions for future research are provided.
The European Council and The Council of the European Union: Shapers of a European Confederation
The European Council and the Council of the European Union play key roles in the European Union.' The European Council is largely concerned with system-steering, while the Council of the EU undertakes sectoral policymaking. What is common to these roles is the balancing act carried out by both institutions. Both have to mediate the centripetal dynamics of integration, termed cooperative confederalism here, and the centrifugal dynamics which are found in the strongly entrenched territorial nature of power, centered on the member states. Using new institutionalist analysis, the article illuminates different facets of the two institutions 'functioning in mediating the two dynamics.