Intercountry Adoption of Eastern European Children in New Zealand: Parents' Attitudes towards the Importance of Culture

Abstract

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.