Constructing Identity: Stories of Canadian Parents Bringing up Children adopted from China- The role of heritage culture and language

Abstract

International adoption is increasing rapidly during the last two decades in Canada and United States. Canadian families with children adopted from China have been leading the statistics of the international adoption in Canada. For the last decade, it steadily made up over half of the international adoptions. Despite of the growing population of the children adopted internationally and interracially, relatively little is known about their social and cultural identity development after their arrival. The presentation will share the parents’ perspective on the meaning of heritage language and culture to the well-being of the children adopted interracially and their adopting families. Some selected literature review and some findings of interviews with the adoptive parents will be discussed. More and more Canadian parents are bringing up children adopted transracially, and over half of these children are from China. How the parents see the role of heritage culture and language playing the identity development of these children will be shared in the presentation.