Editorial: The thorny issue of transracial adoption

Much of the ensuing media attention has been devoted to Madonnadefending her decision. However, there have also been column inchesdedicated to trying to understand the potential difficulties a Blackchild would face growing up in a White household thousands of miles awayfrom his birth family back in Africa.

As our feature on p22 makes clear, the issue of transracial adoption -where a child is adopted by parents who don't share that child's ethnicheritage - is highly controversial, yet it's a conundrum that socialcare professionals regularly face. For some professionals, and adultswho were transracially adopted as children, the practice should not becountenanced, predominantly because of the psychological damage that canbe caused to a child that is brought up in a home where no one sharestheir ethnic and cultural make-up. And yet there are others who arguevery persuasively that it is far better for a child to be brought up ina loving family environment rather than in care, and that sometimes a"good-as-possible match" is the best option for the child inquestion.