This was an early effort to track
the outcomes of mixed-race international
adoptions arranged under the auspices of the International Social
Service, American Branch. Until the late 1950s, children born in
Europe predominated in international
adoptions, but by 1961, 59 percent of “immigrant orphans”
admitted to the United States came from Asia. Korea was by far the
single most important sending country” and these adoptions
were widely publicized in magazine stories about children fathered
by U.S. military personnel, the activities of Bertha
and Harry Holt, and the debate over proxy
adoptions.
Unlike most international
adoptions at the time, which were arranged by proxy,
this study documented what had happened to 93 children whose adoptions
involved American agencies cooperating with the Korean government.
All of the children had American fathers and were therefore considered
mixed-race: 14 were “Korean-Negro,” 75 were ”Korean-Caucasian,”
and the remaining 4 children had fathers of Mexican or American
Indian descent. (Children of “pure” Korean parentage
were not included in this study.) In spite of the fact that these
were transracial adoptions,
agencies tried not to violate matching
any more than necessary. They placed half-white children in white
homes and half-black children in black homes.
Valk’s outcome information was based on progress reports
provided by local agencies, letters from adoptive parents, and conversations
with the social workers supervising these placements. The report
included both demographic statistics
and narrative detail.
Most of the adoptees had been transferred to American families
from orphanages in Korea, where they had lived since infancy. More
than half of the “Negro” adopters were professionals,
especially teachers and ministers, as were a substantial minority
(40 percent) of the “Caucasian” adopters. Most of the
families had incomes described as “modest,” earning
$4500-6500 annually, and half already had adopted children or children
of their own. Humanitarian and religious motives for adoption were
as typical as they were striking.
Valk’s description of the children’s early adjustment
featured sleep disturbances, eating disorders, and language problems,
but these disappeared quickly, especially among children adopted
at very young ages, as most had been. Children adopted at age six
or older were rare, but there were a few reports about their special
difficulties with physical affection, attributed to the fact that
Korean children were unaccustomed to kisses and hugs from their
parents. In general, even these older children made efficient transitions
to American childhood. “At the present time, we can say that
all indications are that these children and their adoptive parents
are happy.” Valk credited the involvement of professional
agencies for the success of these placements and pleaded for an
end to risky proxy adoptions,
in which amateurs arranged adoptions, sight unseen.
Since almost all of the children had been living in their American
adoptive homes for less than two years, it was still early to assess
outcomes. The report ended by predicting that the children would
probably encounter “adverse attitudes” in the future,
“especially during the courtship period,” and suggesting
that parents who adopted Korean children would need more help negotiating
adolescence than “parents of children whose national origin
is not so obviously different.” Concerns about the marital
and reproductive destinies of all children adopted across racial
and national lines were extremely common, suggesting the enduring
legacy of eugenics in adoption
history.
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