Book reviews : Gabor, Ivor and Jane Adridge (eds) (1994) In the Best Interests of the Child: Culture, Identity and Transracial Adoption. London: Free Association Books, 249 pp
Abstract
409 Book reviewsGabor, Ivor and Jane Adridge (eds) (1994) In the Best Interests of the Child: Culture, Identity and Transracial Adoption. London: Free Association Books, 249 pp SAGE Publications, Inc.1995DOI: 10.1177/002087289503800412 Bob Sanders Department of Social Policy and Applied Social Studies, University of Wales, Swansea This book argues the case for trans racial adoption. The editors, however, take great pains to say that adoption across racial boundaries should only occur as a last resort. The overall emphasis in the publication is to put the case that children are more harmed by other factors (such as long waiting periods before placement, inappropriate placement setting, etc.) than they are by being placed transracially. It is unfortunate that the foreword to the publication is written in a rather inaccessible style. Semi-neologisms, and obscure words such as 'synecdoche', which send one rushing to the dictionary, tend to be off-putting. Coming at the beginning it tends to induce in the reader some anxiety that the whole book will be an effort. But the rest is more readable and accessible. 'Gloria's story' is a personal account of a positive experience of being raised in a white family in an Irish community. She attributes this