Intercountry adoption has been, and continues to be, a popular method of family formation worldwide, as well as a means of pro-viding homes for children who would otherwise remain parentless. The popularity of this social welfare practice suggests that countless families continue to face the challenges of raising children whose ethnicities derive from two different ethnic backgrounds. Yet, virtually no research exists on the development of a bicultural ethnic identity in intercountry adoption. Instead, research has focused on the importance of birth-culture socialisation, or the lack thereof. Faced with too little direct research on the subject, this paper synthesises and critically reviews literature from the ethnic socialisation, biracial, acculturation and adoption fields. The aim was two-fold: (1) extrapolate key elements of the literature that inform on the development of biculturalism in intercountry adoptions; and (2) identify gaps in the literature. Suggestions for future research and practice are made.

Over the decades, there have been numerous trends in the formation of family for those experiencing infertility. Adoption -initially domestic but now mostly international -has long been a prevailing method, with a dual outcome of also finding homes for parentless children. Those would-be parents with a stronger desire for genetic relatedness have turned to assisted reproductive technologies for the creation of their families. In the 21st century, capitalising on globalisation and advances in medical sciences and communication, global commercial surrogacy (GCS) is emerging as a dominant method of family formation. In seeking to publish this article in Adoption & Fostering, our primary objective was to provide its readership with an introductory look at GCS, thereby expanding an awareness of surrogacy to an audience whose work has traditionally been concerned with the care and protection of children through foster care and adoption. A secondary aim was to see where the long-standing field of adoption could potentially inform the burgeoning field of global commercial surrogacy. To achieve these objectives, we use international adoption and the adoption triangle as a framework, as we look at the similarities and differences between: (1) the adoptive and commissioning parents; (2) the birth mother and the surrogate; and (3) the adopted children and the children born of global surrogacy.

Virtually all of the research on the importance of culture in adoption has been on transracial adoption. Little is known about the importance of culture when racially similar children are adopted. Rhoda Scherman and Niki Harré interviewed 112 New Zealand adoptive families of primarily European descent, with 162 predominately Russian and Romanian adoptive children, concerning their experiences and attitudes about the importance of their children's birth culture and the types of cultural activities they engaged in. Results showed that the majority of families did engage in both formal and informal cultural activities and made efforts to socialise with people of their child's ethnicity. Many parents kept part or all of their child's original name. The majority of children were perceived by their parents to identify with both the New Zealand and the birth culture. Future research is planned to examine the relationship between experience with birth culture and the development of a positive self-concept in international adoptees.

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normalizing same-gender parenting is what needs to happen next. Our study adds to the research focused on adoption professionals in various countries, with the ultimate aim to inform practices and policies supportive of families headed by same-gender couples and formed through adoption.

Interviews with 44 families in New Zealand who had adopted children from Russia or Romania found that parents' interest in and children's exposure to the birth culture were related to the children's birth culture interest, but less related to their ethnic identification with the birth culture.

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