Is the treatment different?

Question

white parents adopt black child

white parent gives birth to a biracial child

does society treaty these two cases differently?

like if the adopted black child went through mom's purse would he/she be more likely suspected of stealing than a mixed child going through mother's purse?

Answer 1

I've got some pretty racist relatives, that we barely see once a decade.  They've responded to our adoption of black kids differently than my sister having biological bi-racial children, meaning, they've been marginally more accepting of it.  It could be that time has passed and even some attitudes get eroded away.  But  I suspect it's because we did the "saintly" thing by adopting instead of having an interracial marriage, if that makes any sense.

Answer 2

Yes, I have heard that biracial children are more accepted by society than black children of white parents in my adoption circles.  There are about 125 families in our adoption support group and it is something i have heard consistantly.  

I was warned to carry not only a picture of my daughter but also a family photo to prove she IS my daughter if she got lost at the mall.  An adoptive family i know, it took a half hour of convincing the police their son was actually their son.  I guess it didn't help that the son was saying "I don't know who these people are".  Yes very funny now, at the time, not so much.

hope i helped:)

Answer 3

I think any negetive views of either are disgusting myself.  A cousin of mine has three children, the two older ones are biracial.  Our greatgrandmother insisted she abort the older ones when my cousin was pregnant because "if she loved her, she would give birth to n******r babies".  She even treated the older one differently, because she looked african american and her younger brother was fair skinned with blondish hair.  Youngest child is white and was treated like gold by our greatgrandmother, which made us all absolutely SICK.

As for the stereotype of a black child versus biracial child going thru your purse.....I will put it like this: regardless of the race of the child(black,white,biracial)....if they are young, no....teenagers, probably (because almost all of us stole something from our folks at some point in our adolescent years).

Answer 4

I don't have any statistics but what I wanted to say was, "No. There is no difference." My mouth hung open when I read the first poster's answer. How sad.

Answer 5

Society yes would unfortunately look at these two cases differently.    People tend to look at adopted kids as 2nd class already (not that we are) so that's the first strike.  I can't speak for other cultures but yes in the US I will make a generalized statement that being black can be considered the 2nd strike in regards to the individual in the first circumstance you listed above.  It doesn't have to be & by no means should it be considered that but due to a lot of ignorant racist individuals it can be.

In the 2nd situation 1. the child is biological & 2. is half white.  So for some individuals looking into the situation based on skin color & the whole adoption situation my guess would be that they may treat them differently.  Due to ignorance I would think the black adoptee maybe accused before the other child based on looks only.  Of course there could be many other factors that play a role such as previous issues that could sway that opinion.  

I've seen it from both sides. I've seen white parents who already treat their black adopted child like they won't and are unable to amount to much.  I've also seen white parents who adopted black children, know that they will not understand fully the racism that they will face but treat them no differently than their own children.