Baden, Mazza, Harrington, & White (2017) found that adult adoptees, who are overrepresented in counseling and more likely than the national average to struggle with suicidality and complete suicide, commonly seek therapy for adoption related issues that involve depression, anxiety, and self-esteem issues. Adult adoptee therapy satisfaction is indicated by therapist in-session broaching of, attending to and attunement with adoption related issues. In order to more fully embody adoption-informed counseling work, we may refer to the 7 Core Issues of Adoption in which Roszia & Mazon (2019) identify key emotional themes that are ongoing for all members of the adoption triad: loss, rejection, shame/guilt, grief, identity, intimacy, and mastery/control. These salient adoption-informed themes touch upon foundational aspects of the adoption triad’s lived experience navigating complex family dynamics, and emergent identities and roles.

Adoption takes form in various ways, such as local and international adoptions, closed or open adoptions, same race or transracial adoptions, adoptions involving foster care, adopted biological siblings, age at the time of adoption, and post-reunion family dynamics with birth family members, etc. The complex experiences inherent in navigating adoptive family dynamics within the adoption triad that includes the adoptive family, adoptee, and biological family, engender multi-layered, diverse identities for transracial adoptees. Racial, cultural, and ethnic heritage identities are more likely to be explored through engagement in cultural socialization and racial bias preparatory tasks within transracial adoptive families that are cohesive and expressive (Hrapczynski, Leigh, & Kim, 2022), which helps to foster racial identity integration for the transracial adoptee and identifies the role that relational closeness plays as a key factor in assisting identity integration for their adopted child.

Racial identity integration is a salient developmental task item for the transracial adoptee, who are at once was born into their birth cultural and racial identity and then also lost it through the process of adoption, only to gain an entirely new one, losing touch with the original racial orientation given at birth. The developmental racial integration tasks of the transracial adoptee are defined by Baden, Treweeke, & Ahluwalia (2012) in the Model of Reculturation: 1) Enculturation Begins; 2) Relinquishment and Temporary Care; 3) Adoption: Enculturation Stops, Assimilation Begins; 4) Immigration; 5) Assimilation Continues; 6) Reculturation Process and Three Approaches to Reculturation through education, experience, and immersion.

Baden, Kitchen, A., Mazza, J. R., Harrington, E. S., & White, E. E. (2017). Addressing Adoption in Counseling: A Study of Adult Adoptees’ Counseling Satisfaction. Families in Society, 98(3), 209–216. https://doi.org/10.1606/1044-3894.2017.98.26

Hrapczynski, K. M., Leigh, L. A., & Kim, H. (2022). Family functioning and racial socialization in transracial adoptive families. Family Relations, 71(5), 1917–1932. https://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12692

Baden, Treweeke, L. M., & Ahluwalia, M. K. (2012). Reclaiming Culture: Reculturation of Transracial and International Adoptees. Journal of Counseling and Development, 90(4), 387–399. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1556-6676.2012.00049.x