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Professionals who work with the political, medical, historical, ethical, and social issues surrounding adoption gathered on the UMass Boston campus March 9 and 10 to discuss multicultural families and genetic testing and their relation to the institution of adoption. Janet Farrell Smith of the UMass Boston Philosophy Department organized the event, and invited a range of speakers from several fields of adoption research.
Chancellor Sherry Penney indicated that it was an honor to have in attendance so many experts from such a variety of disciplines and cities across the country. Aaron Lazare, Chancellor of UMass Worcester, co-sponsoring campus of the conference, said that although he is not a scholar of adoption, he has himself adopted eight children of mixed races, "the experience of which has developed what kind of person" he is. Lazare led a state commission on adoption, and when a local philanthropist in support of adoption sent him a check for $100,000, the Center for Adoption Research at the UMass Medical School in Worcester was born. The Colloquium was co-sponsored by The Center for Adoption Research and UMass Boston.
In his welcoming remarks, Peter Gibbs, Director of the Center for Adoption Research, stated the importance of "using academic resources to make practical responses to real-world issues associated with foster care." Gibbs brought up several key issues associated with adoption, stating that it "poses many ethical concerns, especially with regard to education and legal issues," and recognizing that adoption has become a business, especially with respect to genetic technologies.
Day one of the colloquium, entitled "Multicultural Families in Adoption," featured presentations on the legal and historical background of forming families across race, with reference to the Multiethnic Placement Act of 1994, amended in 1996. This act prohibits states and other entities that are involved in foster care or adoption placements from delaying or denying a child's care or placement on the basis of the child's or prospective parent's race, color, or national origin. It also prohibits keeping a person from becoming an adoptive or foster parent on the basis of the child's or prospective parent's race, color, or national origin. The act further requires that, in order to remain eligible for federal assistance for child welfare programs, states must work to recruit parents who reflect the racial and ethnic diversity of the children in the state who need foster and adoptive homes.
In light of this legislation, presenters and panel members also discussed interracial norms in pluralist democratic societies, cultural competence education for cross-cultural and cross-racial adoptive parents, and family values with regard to adoption. Representatives from adoption agencies, social services agencies, and the fields of law, psychology, and ethics addressed racial identity, open and transracial adoption, and obligations to birth parents.
Day two's program focused on the ethics of genetic testing in adoption. Topics included genetic testing policy, redefining the family through changing legal norms, and adoption and mental health. A hotly debated and problematic topic was genetic testing and its relationship to parental responsibility in deciding whether or not to adopt. Legal experts defended the right to privacy in genetic testing of children and how this right relates to children's best interests. Physicians and bioethics experts debated the medical rationale for genetic testing of adoptive children.
Many presenters and panel members brought personal experience to the colloquium. Many speakers had either adopted children or had been adopted themselves. By adding a personal dimension to the discussions, their stories contributed to the event in a way that studies, surveys, and reports could not.