Becoming a Transracial Family: Communicatively Negotiating Divergent Identities in Families Formed Through Transracial Adoption

Nelson, Leslie R.; Colaner, Colleen Warner

doi:10.1080/15267431.2017.1396987

Cited by 17 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…All told, such questions, even under the best of intentions, lose sight of the fallibility of human relationships and the need for attachments given our imperfections. Indeed, studies that examine other factors such as biracialism and the role of social class in shaping identity shed light on the complexity of factors that affect child rearing (Butler-Sweet, 2014; Hamilton et al., 2015; Nelson and Colaner, 2017).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Piedra

2018

Qualitative Social Work

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CR [critical realism] encourages the researcher to go beyond describing particular patterns found through observation to identify the causal mechanisms (both discursive and nondiscursive) which generate particular events occurring. Sarah Bunt, from ''Critical realism and grounded theory: Analysing the adoption outcomes for disabled children using the retroduction framework,'' QSW 17 (2) There are often three sides to a foster care story: the lived experiences of the participant, the official case record, and the space in between. Nancy Rolock and Alfred G. Pe´rez, from ''Three sides to a foster care story: an examination of the lived experiences of young adults, their foster care case record, and the space in between,'' QSW 17 (2)

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confidence: 99%

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Piedra

2018

Qualitative Social Work

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“…In diverse family forms, context-specific strategies play a particularly important role in cultivating family ties and identity (Nelson & Colaner, 2018). In fact, previous research has revealed context-specific strategies are prevalent in both non-neurotypical families (Hays & Colaner, 2016) and transracial adoptive families (Nelson & Colaner, 2018). This study answers the call by Nelson and Colaner to further investigate the prevalence of contextspecific strategies in diverse families by examining their utilization in aged out foster youths' family identity constructions.…”

Section: Engaging Familymentioning

confidence: 69%

“…Beyond examining the utilization of Galvin's strategies in nurturing a family identity, it is plausible context-specific strategies may also emerge. Context-specific strategies refer to communication strategies that help to create and sustain family identity that are not accounted for in Galvin's (2006) internal boundary management theorizing (Nelson & Colaner, 2018). In diverse family forms, context-specific strategies play a particularly important role in cultivating family ties and identity (Nelson & Colaner, 2018).…”

Section: Engaging Familymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Context-specific strategies refer to communication strategies that help to create and sustain family identity that are not accounted for in Galvin's (2006) internal boundary management theorizing (Nelson & Colaner, 2018). In diverse family forms, context-specific strategies play a particularly important role in cultivating family ties and identity (Nelson & Colaner, 2018). In fact, previous research has revealed context-specific strategies are prevalent in both non-neurotypical families (Hays & Colaner, 2016) and transracial adoptive families (Nelson & Colaner, 2018).…”

Section: Engaging Familymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This study answers the call by Nelson and Colaner to further investigate the prevalence of contextspecific strategies in diverse families by examining their utilization in aged out foster youths' family identity constructions. Taken together, Galvin's (2006) internal boundary management strategies and context-specific communication strategies (Nelson & Colaner, 2018) may help illuminate the complex process by which aged out foster youth construct and sustain a family identity in light of the voluntary and ambiguous nature of family ties upon aging out of care.…”

Section: Engaging Familymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Families are for thriving, not just surviving : aged out foster youths' experiences of family, home, and estrangement

Nelson¹

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Guided by social identity (Tajfel and Turner, 1986), social constructionism (Berger and Luckmann, 1967; Gergen, 1985), and discourse-dependence (Galvin, 2006; Galvin and Braithwaite, 2014) theorizing, the present study illuminated the communicative experiences and complexities inherent to family and home life for youth who aged out of foster care. Broadly, results from 30 interviews afforded a necessary understanding of how aged out foster youth understand and process "family," "home," and family identity formation and deconstruction in conversations with others. First, findings revealed that "family" was conceptualized as those who love you unconditionally, as those who support you, and as more than blood -- signifying a valuing of function (e.g., love, support) over structure (e.g., blood/legal ties) when defining-family. The criteria aged out foster youth applied to â€œfamilyâ€ informed aged out foster youths' decision-making processes about what individuals were identified as family ingroup members, family outgroup members, and liminal group members. Second, results indicated that participants drew upon their experiences before, during, and after care when making sense of home as self, home as a place, and home as family. Third, findings revealed that aged out foster youth utilized naming, discussing, narrating, ritualizing, and normalizing to build and maintain family identity with family ingroup members. Fourth, results indicated that aged out foster youth most often estranged from biological family members due to physical actions, personal attributes, and/or lack of social support. Ultimately, participants reported estranging from family members because they defied their personal standards for family relationships. In order to actively deconstruct family identity with these family members, aged out foster youth utilized the discursive strategies of naming, discussing, deritualizing, silencing, and disassociating to deliberately defy standards of family as a way to create distance. Last, results revealed that aged out foster youth tended to focus on the positive impacts of family estrangement on the self through discussing both emotional implications (i.e., positive affect, negative affect, and mixed affect) and self-improvement implications (i.e., demonstrating empowerment, encouraging self-care, and promoting mental health). Findings contribute to family communication and family estrangement research by illuminating how aged out foster youth accounts spoke to family estrangement as a potential pathway to self-actualization. Results also advance discourse-dependence theorizing by empirically testing Galvin and Braithwaite's (2014) proposed identity deconstruction strategies and illuminating how standards for identity-building talk have heightened. Moreover, findings contribute to social identity and intergroup theorizing through revealing how the family ingroup is being reimagined and complicating our understandings of intergroup distinctions. A host of practical implications, such as offering estrangement coaching and developing practical skills for evaluating family, also emerged. Ultimately, results from the current study pave the way for future research to continue to explore how family and home life are discussed and experienced among aged out foster youth.

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Discourse Dependence

2019

Communication in Family Contexts

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Becoming a Transracial Family: Communicatively Negotiating Divergent Identities in Families Formed Through Transracial Adoption

Cited by 17 publications

References 23 publications

In this issue…Go beyond observation

In this issue…Go beyond observation

Families are for thriving, not just surviving : aged out foster youths' experiences of family, home, and estrangement

Discourse Dependence

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