Today’s guest blogger is Ashley Jones.
In Adoption and Genetics: Implications for Adoptive Parents, E. Kay Trimberger shares her personal story of adoption. Her story is one in which the discussion of genetics and adoption are linked together, with the idea that ‘nature versus nurture’ is an important topic in the realm of adoption. Trimberger, who adopted her biracial son during his infancy, raised her son with the idea that the nurturing, rather than the natural, environment would be indicative of the kind of adult that her son would grow to be. When Trimberger and her son, in his mid-twenties, met her son’s biological parents, Trimberger soon realized the importance of genetics in the development of her son’s personality and identity. Not only did her son resemble his biological parents in appearance, but also exhibited similar personality traits, talents and problems of both his birth mother and father. Because of this revelation, the author further explored the implications of genetics, relating it to situations of adoption in general, with specific connections to her personal experience of raising a transracially adopted son.
This article addresses some controversial “hot” topics surrounding adoption, including transracial adoption, open versus closed adoption, the debate of nature-versus-nurture, and the importance of “good” parenting. Trimberger discusses these topics in a way that is so personal to her that it would be incorrect to say that she is either right or wrong. Rather, it is her own personal experience that she has deeply thought about and analyzed what those experiences mean to not only herself, but also to her son. This article is built upon personal experience and can be deemed neither right nor wrong, which I believe to be a strength of the article. In instances where controversial topics are discussed, it is easy for individuals to take one stance or the other. In situations of adoption, it is difficult to say there is only one correct way to look at things and all the other ways are wrong. Adoption is a complex process that is different for each child and family and it is important to realize that each adoption is individual and should not be grouped together as a whole. I think the author helps to make this point, because she addressed the complexities that had arisen with a child who was adopted in a way that was individualistic to her own personal experience.
Because adoption is such a complex situation, it is easy to get caught up in the notion that one way of adoption is correct, while all the other ways are incorrect. There is a common myth that children who are transracially adopted are bound to develop many more issues than children who are not transracially adopted. I think this article addresses this myth by discussing the implications of genetics in children who are adopted. Trimberger indicates that the issues her son encountered did not only happen because he was a biracial child growing up in an environment that was ethnically different from his own. Rather, the author details that the development of her son’s issues stemmed from his genetic make-up and his environment, implicating that children who are adopted will undergo issues, regardless if their adoption is transracial or not.
The article Adoption and Genetics: Implications for Adoptive Parents, written by E. Kay Trimberger on January 30, 2014 can accessed online at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/e-kay-trimberger/adoption-and-genetics-imp_b_4682667.html