The Importance of Trauma-Informed Care with Transracial Adoptees
by: Jaime Weatherholt, LICSW, CHt
Adoption connects nearly 100 million Americans, including adopting, placing, or being adopted. This means there is a likelihood of interacting with someone touched by adoption. This course is designed to introduce the background and knowledge in transracial adoption and how these adoptees are more likely to need trauma-informed care and trauma-trained practitioners.
Transracial adoptees, a subset of the adoption community, are adoptees who are a different race than their adoptive parents. Transracial adoptees are the newest voice in the adoption discussion as these children grow up and want to participate. Transracial adoptees have the interesting insight of being raised in close proximity to an ethnic and racial background different from their own; they are more likely to have missed out on the deep understanding of their own biological heritage. Studies show that the more a transracial adoptee is around those of similar racial and ethnic backgrounds, the stronger the sense of self-identity. However, this population is experiencing more difficulty in understanding their sense of self as they enter adulthood.
Trauma-informed care, along with trainings that include the voices of transracial adoptees, are necessary to better understand how to work best with this population. This course is designed by a transracial adoptee, who is incorporating not only lived experience, but lessons from clients and history to help critically look at the importance of the trauma-informed lens. It is important to understand a transracial adoptee’s lived experiences in order for your working relationship. Understanding a person’s history invites you into their world; it allows you to better communicate and rebuild trust and understanding. The hope for this course is to create a compassionate lens for healthcare providers to use with their transracial adoptee clients. Since trauma starts with pain, it is necessary that healing begins with compassion.
