Competencies for Counseling the Multiracial Population

Multi-Racial/Ethnic Counseling Concerns (MRECC) Interest Network of the AmericanCounseling Association Taskforce
Co-Chairs/Authors: Kelley R. Kenney, Mark E. Kenney
Taskforce Members/Authors:
Susan B. Alvarado, Amanda L. Baden, Leah Brew, Stuart Chen-Hayes, Cheryl L. Crippen,
Hank L. Harris, Richard C. Henriksen, Jr., Krista M. Malott, Derrick A. Paladino,Mark L. Pope, Carmen F. Salazar, Anneliese A. Singh*

In memory of Dr. Bea Wehrly for her tireless work and advocacy. The publication ofher book, Counseling Interracial Individuals and Families, by the American Counseling
Association in 1996 was a major part of this journey.

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Competencies for Counseling the Multiracial Population:
Couples, Families, and Individuals; and Transracial Adoptees and Families
The Multiracial/Ethnic Counseling Concerns (MRECC) Interest Network of theAmerican Counseling Association has developed the following competencies in order to promote
the development of sound professional counseling practices to competently and effectively
attend to the diverse needs of the multiple heritage population.
Section I: Overview
This document is intended to provide counseling competencies for working with andadvocating for members of the multiracial population including interracial couples, multiracial
families, and multiracial individuals, and transracial adoptees and families. The document isintended for use by counselors and other helping professionals; individuals who educate, train,
and/or supervise current and future counseling and other helping professionals; as well as
individuals who may conduct research and/or other professional activities with members of themultiracial population. To this end, the goal is for these competencies to serve as a resource andprovide a framework for how counseling and other helping professionals can competently andeffectively work with and advocate for members of the multiracial population.
Acronyms
Several acronyms will be presented and used in this document. The first, MRECC(Multiracial/Multiethnic Counseling Concerns) is the name of the group that has been working toraise awareness about interracial couples, multiracial families, and multiracial individuals, andtransracial adoptees and families in the counseling and other helping professions since the mid1990s. Further information about this group follows. The term multiracial population is used torefer to the communities commonly acknowledged by and included under this broad umbrella,	
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interracial couples, multiracial families, and multiracial individuals, and transracial adoptees andfamilies. We use LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender) to address the experiences ofinterracial couples and families of these identities. LGBQQIA (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Queer,
Questioning, Intersex, and Ally) is used to address the experiences of multiracial individuals
through the lens of other possible identities.
Several adoption-specific acronyms are offered for clarification as follows. We use TRA(Transracial Adoption) when we are referring to the practice of transracial adoption (which can
include international adoptions, also referred to as transnational adoptions or transcultural
adoptions). When using TRAs (Transracial Adoptees), we are referring to transracial adoptees(again, this includes international adoptees who are also transracially adopted). Within the
adoption community and literature, a common term used to refer to adoption stakeholders is the
Adoption Triad, which refers to adoptees, adoptive parents, and birth parents. However, formost of this section of the document, we chose to use a more inclusive term, Transracial
Adoption Kinship Network (TrAKN), to include extended family within adoptions and foster
families and to include those impacted by transracial and international adoption.
Multiracial/Multiethnic Counseling Concerns Interest Network (MRECC)
The document is presented by members of the Multiracial/Multiethnic Counseling
Concerns Interest Network of the American Counseling Association (MRECC). Prior to themid-1980s to mid-1990s, with the exception of some publications (Brandell, 1988; Herring,
1992, 1995; Ibrahim & Schroeder, 1992;	
  Kerwin & Ponterotto, 1995; Nishimura, 1995; Poston,
1990; Root, 1990, 1994; Sebring, 1985; Solsberry, 1994; Wardle, 1991, 1992) there were few
efforts within the counseling and other helping professions to address the needs of members ofthe multiracial population. MRECC began in 1996 as a group of counseling professionals
	
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interested in raising the profession’s awareness of the issues and concerns of the multiracial
population; it functioned as a Sub-Committee of the Professional Standards Committee of the
Association for Multicultural Counseling and Development (AMCD). In 1997 the groupfunctioned as an entity of AMCD’s Interdivisional Collaboration Committee. This position
allowed the group to broaden its focus and expand its impact by bringing the issues and concernsof the multiracial population to the awareness of the various divisions of the AmericanCounseling Association (ACA). In 1998 as a result of the recognition MRECC had begun toachieve and with support from then ACA President, Dr. Courtland Lee steps were taken for thegroup to pursue status as a special interest network within ACA. MRECC continued its work
promoting awareness of the multiracial population within ACA from 1998 to 2001, when withsupport from then president Dr. Judy Lewis the group drafted a proposal to become an Interest
Network. In 2002, during the presidency of Dr. Jane Goodman, ACA’s Governing Council voted
to approve four Interest Networks. MRECC was one of those four.
MRECC is comprised of many members who are themselves part of the multiracial
population or are allies of the population. Hence, they come from a vast array of identities,
backgrounds, worldviews, and lived experiences. Over the course of MRECC’s 19 years ofexistence the collective efforts of its members have included books, book chapters, articles,
monographs, and training videos; state, national and international conference presentations;training workshops; graduate course curricula developed to focus on multiracial concerns; aswell as advocacy and collaborative activities with other organizations and the multiracialcommunity. This competencies document is meant to build on these efforts and further
MRECC’s contribution to raising the awareness, knowledge, and skill levels of members of the	
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counseling and other helping professions as they work with and advocate for increasing numbersof multiracial couples, individuals, and families.
The next two sections comprise the major contribution this document is intended toprovide. Section II addresses that segment of the multiracial population that includes interracial
couples, multiracial families, and individuals. Section III addresses that segment of the
population that includes transracial adoptees and families. Both sections provide an overview ofthe population that includes (a) the contextual framework used to inform and construct thecompetencies specific to the population; (b) the language and definitions specific to the
population; (c) current issues and stances; and (d) the competencies specific to the population.
The actual competencies are further organized to address the groups included within eachsegment of the population. Hence, in Section II the competencies are organized as follows:
A. Competencies for Working with Interracial Couples and Multiracial Families
B. Competencies for Working with Multiracial Individuals
In Section III the competencies are organized as follows:
Competencies for Working with Transracial Adoptees and the Transracial Adoption
Kinship Network
The competencies are delineated according to the 2009 Council for Accreditation of Counselingand Related Educational Programs (CACREP) Standards eight common core areas, as follows:
A. Human Growth and Development
B. Social and Cultural Diversity
C. Helping Relationships
D. Group Work
E. Career Development	
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F. Assessment
G. Research and Program Evaluation
H. Professional Orientation and Ethical Practice

References and resources used to construct the competencies and deemed as beneficial to those
who may utilize this document are provided at the end of the document, followed by a complete
glossary of terms utilized in the document and in various oral and written discussions about themixed race and transracial adoption experience.
Section II: Interracial Couples, Multiracial Families, and Multiracial Individuals
Since the repeal of anti-miscegenation laws in the United States brought about by theSupreme Court’s landmark Loving v. Virginia decision in 1967 there has been a dramaticincrease in interracial marriages and partnerships. Subsequently, there has also been a dramaticincrease in the rate of births of children from these marriages and partnerships. Data from the2010 U.S. Census revealed that 8.4% of all marriages and 15% of all new marriages in the U.S.
were interracial (Wang, 2012). In addition, nine million individuals or 2.9% of the total U.S.
population were identified as being of two or more socially constructed racial categories, withover 4.2 million of these individuals being under the age of 18 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2012).
Despite these dramatic increases, multiracial couples and individuals continue to confront
environmental systems that are biased and to deal with stressors associated with negative andhostile encounters rooted in racism and other forms of oppression.
Micro, meso, and macro environmental factors figure prominently in the daily experiencesof members of the multiracial population and over the course of the lifespan. The impact ofthese factors are best observed in Root’s (2002) Ecological Framework for Understanding
Multiracial Identity, a model designed to provide a structure for understanding the racial identity	
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development of multiracial individuals (Root, 2003). The model is borne out of the sociologicalconstructs of interaction and includes the variables gender; regional history of race relations;inherited influences, encompassing languages spoken at home, parent’s identity, nativity,
extended family, names, home values, sexual orientation, and phenotype; traits, encompassing
temperament, social skills, talents, and coping skills; social interaction with community,
encompassing home, school/work, community, friends, outside the community; and identity,
which encompasses and includes designated or chosen racial and ethnic identity (Root, 2003).
These factors and variables alone and in combination have considerable impact and influence on
multiracial identity development, and are important to understanding multiracial individuals in
the context of the systems and environments in which they exist. The model is not only usefulfor understanding the variables impacting the lived experiences of multiracial individuals, butalso has implications for understanding the issues that impact the lived experiences of multiracial
couples and their families as they navigate the various systems of their environment. To thisend, the model informs and provides the context out of which the competencies in this document
were constructed.
It is important for counselors and other helping professionals to understand that formembers of the multiracial population, their status as mixed race couples, families, or individuals
may not be the impetus when presenting for services. Rather they may be seeking services todeal with the on-going stressors of navigating challenging environmental systems. Hence, thecompetencies provide guidelines for working with multiracial couples, families, and individuals
that address these challenges.

	
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Language and Definitions
The language utilized in referring to interracial couples, multiracial families, andmultiracial individuals in these competencies speak to the most commonly accepted, current, andinclusive language utilized within the community, as well as in the professional and scholarly
literature. Terms that have been proposed and used in discussing this segment of the multiracial
population include biracial, mixed race, multiracial, multicultural, and mixed heritage (Aspinall,
2009; Henriksen & Paladino, 2009; Jackson, Yoo, Guevarra, & Harrington, 2012; Root &Kelley, 2003). The terms interracial and multiracial have been the most commonly utilized
terms in recent decades, with the term multiracial being the most frequently used due to its
acknowledgement of the possibility of two or more racial backgrounds (Root & Kelley, 2003;
Henriksen & Paladino, 2009). However, there has been a resurgence in the use of the term mixed
race in the past ten years by members of the community consisting of scholars, activists, andartists who have been coming together to examine, address, and engage in critical discoursearound salient issues and concerns (CMRS, 2013). Finally, the term multiple heritage, has been
posed and utilized (Henriksen & Paladino, 2009) as it acknowledges the intersectionality andmultiple dimensions of identity including, race and culture that influence the worldview andlived experiences of the population (Henriksen & Paladino, 2009). The term multiple heritage isconsistent with the authors’ thinking and decision to use the Root (2002) Ecological Frameworkas the theoretical underpinning for the construction of these competencies. Hence, multiple
heritage is used synonymously with interracial and multiracial throughout these competencies.
Current Issues and Stances
As previously mentioned, this document is intended to be a resource for counseling andother helping professionals as they educate themselves about the needs of increasing number of	
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multiracial couples, families, and individuals. In addition to gaining knowledge however, theauthors believe it is of even greater importance for counseling and other helping professionals tobe aware of any assumptions or biased attitudes and beliefs they may hold about these couples,families, and individuals. Counselors and other helping professionals are not immune to andoften hold the same stereotypes and misinformation about groups of people as the general
populace. However, they have a ethical and legal obligation to examine their views and areas ofbias, ignorance, and inexperience, and to engage in on-going self-monitoring. By failing to doso, professionals impede the counseling process and run the risk of doing harm to their clients.
This is spelled out and addressed in the ethical codes of ACA, the American Psychological
Association (APA), and the National Association of Social Workers (NASW), as well as in the
ethical guidelines and standards of the American College Personnel Association (ACPA) and the
National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA).
A common stereotype or misperception about multiracial couples and their respective
families is that one of the partners and parents is Black and the other is White. Multiple heritage
couples, families, and individuals are an extremely diverse population. Professionals interested
in gaining more information about the demographics of this growing population need only
examine census reports of the past two decades to learn about the diversity that exists within thispopulation. In addition, in the last two decades a wealth of knowledge about the multiracial
population has emerged from the professional and scholarly literature in the fields of counseling,
psychology, social work, student affairs and higher education. While this information has
informed our thinking with regard to techniques, interventions, and best practices for a host of
professional services, there are limitations with respect to the scholarly literature available onparticular racial, ethnic, and cultural compositions of couples, families, and individuals. For	
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example, there is a significant body of literature that addresses couples and families in which oneof the partners/parents is White, but a dearth in the literature examining families in which bothpartners/parents are of color. Finally, as with some other populations, the limits of research due
to bias, lack of access to information, and lack of normative information must be acknowledged.
A. Competencies for Working with Interracial Couples and Multiracial Families
Human Growth and Development
Culturally Competent Counselors will:• Understand that the transitions across the life span for each individual within the couple
may impact each partner’s personal cultural worldview and interpersonalcommunications.
• Understand that biological, familial, and psychosocial factors contribute to eachindividual within the couple’s unique cultural assumptions, which may define their roles
within the relationship.
• Recognize that each couple will develop its own process of negotiating culturaldifferences and that this process is dynamic based upon stage of development both asindividuals and as a couple.
• Appreciate how each generation (such as the Silent Generation versus Millennial) andgeographic location (country, region, state/province, urban, suburban, rural orneighborhood) has varying degrees of acceptance of interracial, interethnic, diverse
sexual orientations and gender identity/expression and contextualize this understanding
when working with couples.
• Understand that the specific gender and or racial combination of the couple or family(Black/White, Native American/White, Asian/Hispanic) has varying degrees of societal
acceptance.
• Understand that interracial, interethnic, and diverse sexual orientation and gender identity
expression couples have the resiliency to live fully functioning, healthy, lives despite
experience with prejudice, discrimination, oppression and/or privilege.
• Recognize, acknowledge, and understand the intersecting identities for each partner (e.g.
social class, religion/spirituality, gender identity and expression, diverse sexual
orientation, race, ethnicity, culture [including level of acculturation], nationality, ability,
immigration status), the developmental tasks for each partner, as well as the formationand integration of each partner's multiple identity statuses.
• Understand how each partner's family of origin’s reaction to either partner’s racial ethnic
and/or diverse sexual orientations and gender identity/expression differences could
impact their relationship with their families and with each other. Process this experienceto facilitate the couple’s creation of a mutual healing direction.
	
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Understand that each partner may have different experiences with Racial Minority
Identity, White Racial Identity, Multiracial Identity Development, and/or
Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual Identity Development.
Understand that identity is a fluid process and how this process impacts the relationship
Recognize how prejudicial attitudes, discrimination, and pressure to stay with one’s
particular race or ethnic group may affect developmental decisions made byinterracial/interethnic families and couples regardless of their efforts to be resilient.

Social and Cultural Diversity
Culturally Competent Counselors will:Counselor Awareness:• Understand their personal cultures and how these cultures might impact the assumptions
they have about their clients’ culture and intercultural status as a couple/family.
• Acknowledge and recognize when the counselor’s culture may impact the way the couple
perceives the counselor as safe or unsafe in establishing a therapeutic relationship.
• Identify the phase of cultural identity development of each member of the couple orfamily and make this an explicit part of the counseling process when needed.
• Acknowledge that couples and families are existing within a dominant U.S. cultural
worldview value set that may negatively impact differences in values within the couple.
• Understand that racism and heterosexism still exist and that interracial/interethnic couples
may experience prejudice and discrimination from outside their relationship along with
their own internalized messages.
• Understand the ways in which oppression, prejudice and discrimination impact a couple’s
relationship.
• Familiarize themselves with the cultures of each member of the couple and family
through research and by asking the clients about their cultures and each of their uniqueprocesses with acculturating into the dominant U.S. cultural worldview perspective.
• Acknowledge that racism, sexism, heterosexism, classism, and religious oppression areworldviews as well as value systems that may undermine healthy functioning of a couple
or family.
Couples and Family relationship within the context of differences:• Understand that a couple with two different ethnic or racial identities could be
experiencing the world from three cultural views: the ethically or racially different
worldviews of each partner along with navigating the dominant U.S. cultural worldview.
• Understand important cultural constructs (e.g., individualism, collectivism, high versus
low context communication, familisimo, filial piety, machismo, Marianismo,stereotypical gender roles, and hierarchical versus egalitarian power structures) and how
these cultural assumptions impact relationships that are interethnic, interracial, diverse
sexual orientations and/or gender identity/expressions.	
  	
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Appreciate that culture goes beyond race and ethnicity and includes factors such as
gender, religion/spirituality, diverse sexual orientations and gender identity/expressions,social class, (dis)ability and other areas that impact their cultural assumptions.
Understand the importance of the potential differences of experiences based upon thevarious racial or ethnic combinations of couples with a special focus on two persons ofcolor and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender relationships.
Appreciate the diversity of intercultural family systems, and the extent to which eachmember ascribes different importance and meaning to cultural diversity within thefamily.

Couples and Family relationship within the context of similarities:• Understand that conflicts in relationships may or may not be related to racial, ethnic, orother cultural differences.
• Recognize and explore cultural value similarities in the relationship in order to strengthen
the relationship.	
  	
  Helping Relationships
Culturally Competent Counselors will:• Maintain an orientation of wellness and appreciate that each couple or family has theright to negotiate cultural differences in its own way without imposing any agenda on the
couple or family.
• Seek consultation or supervision to ensure that their own biases or knowledge deficits
about other races, ethnicities, diverse sexual orientations and gender identity/expressions
do not negatively affect the helping relationship.
• Use models of counseling that are culturally appropriate for and sensitive to the couple’s
cultures.
• Maintain a therapeutic balance between an understanding of the potential challenges andthe sources of opportunities for intercultural couples and families.
• Be aware of misconceptions and myths of the various cultures with which each partner
identifies.
• Be familiar with resources (e.g. books, websites) available to intercultural couples andfamilies.
Group Work
Culturally Competent Counselors will:• Understand that different races and ethnicities have different styles of communication(e.g., high context vs. low-context) that may be perceived as offensive, misunderstood, or
misinterpreted, and which therefore might need to be discussed as part of the groupprocess.
• Recognize that group members may be at different stages of cultural identity
development and may harbor prejudice with members from other racial or ethnic groups.
	
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Intervene actively when either overt or covert disapproval of one member threatens
member safety, group cohesion, and integrity.
Utilize a group leadership style and facilitate a group process that is culturally sensitive
and appropriate for the specific racial and ethnic make-up of the group members
Intervene as a cultural mediator to decode and reframe conflicts, comments, or behaviors
through a cultural lens.
Assess each couple to make sure the partners are appropriate for each particular groupand for group work.
Be alert that power and privilege differentials will be experienced within and between
couples in group work.
Acknowledge that there may be appropriate times to create a separate group for Lesbian,Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender couples.
Understand how intersecting identities and oppressions affect group members’ lived
experiences and may affect group process, member roles, and experiences in the group.

Career Development
Culturally Competent Counselors will:• Counter the occupational stereotypes that restrict the career development and decision
making of interracial, interethnic, diverse sexual orientations and gender
identity/expression couples.
• Help couples to make career choices that facilitate both identity formation and job
satisfaction.
• Appreciate the interrelationship between work, family, and other life roles and how being
in an interracial, interethnic, diverse sexual orientations and gender identity/expression
couple may intersect with gender role expectations.
• Understand how experiences of discrimination, oppression, prejudice and/or violence inthe workplace may create additional inter/intrapersonal barriers between partners
especially when there is a lack of awareness regarding “privileged statuses ” and/or whenother intersecting identities contribute to one or both partners’ experiences as (a)marginalized individual(s).
• Be aware that the racial or ethnic make-up of a couple could be a challenging factor interms of work relocation (by either choice or force transfer) because of the regional
racial/ethnic history of the geographic location in which this new work site resides.
• Understand that cultural worldview (deep culture) differences could exist for a couple
regarding the saliency of each partner’s tendency to make career decisions through one’s
lenses of individualism or collectivism.
Assessment
Culturally Competent Counselors will:• Use instruments with couples that are culturally appropriate and culturally sensitive toboth individuals within the couple.
	
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Use culturally appropriate assessment instruments to understand the role of culture in
relationship dynamics, patterns of communication, and to facilitate dialogue withintercultural couples and families.
Conduct a family cultural assessment to situate the broader cultural context of the couple
and family, and to understand the transmission and blending of cultural values throughpatterns of migration and partnerships.
Assess couples using a variety of measures beyond assessment instruments in order toattend to all cultural aspects of the couple.
Assess the stage of cultural transition and strategies of adjustment and decision-making
among intercultural couples and families.
Appreciate that the individuals within the couple each have their own culture that are
simply differences and are not correct or incorrect when making assessments.
Appreciate that the way the partners in the couple navigate their differences is the choiceof the couple and may not be congruent with dominant U. S. cultural worldview.

Research and Program Evaluation
Culturally Competent Counselors will:• When conducting research, formulate questions that include interracial, interethnic, anddiverse sexual orientations and gender identity/expression couples and include these
couples in research.
• Consider the challenges involved in conducting research with interracial, interethnic, ordiverse sexual orientations and gender identity/expression couples.
• Recognize that interracial, interethnic, and diverse sexual orientation and gender
identity/expression couples may co-construct their relationships in ways that may not fit
existing stereotypes of how couples and families are currently understood; avoid attempts
to fit these couples and families into existing phenomenological views.
• When conducting literature reviews, be cognizant that much of the research may haveheterosexist, cisgender, or racial or ethnic biases that may negatively influence thedirection of the research.
• When conducting research, address their own lack of awareness of the sociocultural andhistorical difference between diverse sexual orientation and gender identity/expression
communities and the heterosexual community within the multiracial population.
• Thoughtfully select the study participants to be inclusive (e.g., avoid focusing on Whiteand person of color couples only, or upper middle class, or heterosexual, or cisgender, or
highly educated partners and/or families).
• Include measures of study participants’ levels of acculturation or cultural identity
development.
• Include discussions to carefully prevent the reader from over-stereotyping based uponstudy results.
• Help readers avoid generalizing study results from one nationality to another by including
participants’ national origin identity.

	
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Help readers avoid overgeneralizing from a regional experience to a national experienceby including the uniqueness of regional geography and participants’ ethnic/racial identity
histories.
Acknowledge the methodological limitations when generalizing quantitative researchwith interracial, interethnic, or diverse sexual orientations and gender identity expression
couples.
Be aware that the counseling field has had a history of pathologizing interracial,interethnic, and diverse sexual orientations and gender identity/expression couples.
Be current and well informed on the most recent scholarship with interracial, interethnic,
and diverse sexual orientations and gender identity/expression couples.

Professional Orientation and Ethical Practice
Culturally Competent Counselors will:• Know the history of the helping profession including significant factors and events thathave compromised interracial, interethnic, and diverse sexual orientations and gender
identity/expression couples (i.e., Miscegenation laws, Loving v Virginia, 1967 U.S.
Supreme Court decision; and the Defense of Marriage Act, United States v Windsor,
2013 U.S. Supreme Court decision).
• Familiarize themselves with the needs and counseling issues of interracial, interethnic,
and diverse sexual orientations and gender identity/expression couples and families anduse non-stigmatizing and affirming mental health, educational, and community resources.
• Recognize the importance of educating professionals, students, supervisees, andconsumers about interracial, interethnic, and diverse sexual orientations and gender
identity/expression couples’ issues.
• Recognize and strategically confront misinformation and biases about interracial,interethnic, and diverse sexual orientations and gender identity/expression couples wheninteracting with other professionals, students, supervisees and consumers.
• Use professional development opportunities to enhance their attitudes, knowledge, andskills specific to counseling interracial, interethnic, and/or diverse sexual orientations andgender identity/expression couples and families	  B. Competencies for Working with Multiracial Individuals
Human Growth and Development
Culturally Competent Counselors will:• Understand that multiracial individuals may identify in different ways based on theirconnection to and knowledge and understanding about their identity (e.g. biracial,
multiracial, multi-ethnic, multiple heritage, interracial, monoracial).
• Recognize that developmental tasks of multiracial children, adolescents, adults and older
adults may be influenced by experiences of oppression and discrimination.
• Demonstrate understanding of the many ways multiracial individuals self-identify; workto validate those identities.
	
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Notice that monoracial identity development models do not account for individuals living
within multiple racial, ethnic, or cultural identities.
Recognize that the racial and ethnic identities of multiracial individuals intersect withother identities of sexual orientation, gender identity, class status, disability status, andother social identity groups.
Understand that the unique make-up of multiracial individuals, their surrounding
environment, and their chronological and developmental age will affect how theyexperience personal identity development.
Seek opportunities to gain insight into the various life experiences of multiracial
individuals.
Affirm the life experiences of multiracial individuals and seek opportunities to gain
further insights into how those experiences aid the identity development of multiple
heritage individuals.
Refrain from labeling the client’s multiracial identity as the main reason for attending
counseling or for the presenting problem, unless specified by the client, until
understanding the client’s presenting issue.
Understand the systemic (family), political, psychosocial, biological (e.g., phenotype)and ecological influences (e.g., family, community, school settings, work settings) thatshape the multiracial individual’s identity.
Recognize how stigma, prejudice, discrimination, and oppression by family, community,
and society can affect developmental decisions and milestones in the lives of multiracial
individuals.
Understand that historical and sociopolitical events will be uniquely experienced bymultiracial individuals depending on their multiple heritage backgrounds or identities,
chronological age, development, and prior direct or vicarious experiences.
Understand that multiracial identity development is complex, personal and unique to eachindividual with every outcome being correct for that individual.
Understand that the multiracial individual does not necessarily share a common
experience or racial, ethnic, and cultural background with his or her family or with othermultiracial individuals due to the complexity of the multiracial make-up.
Understand that multiracial individuals do not look alike even if they share the same
cultural and ethnic make-up. Phenotype varies from individual to individual and this may
influence variation in individuals’ identity development and personal identity preference.

Social and Cultural Diversity
Culturally Competent Counselors will:• Learn the identity development models for the biracial, multiracial, and (multiple
heritage) population and gain knowledge and skills for applying those models whenworking with multiracial individuals.
• Become familiar with general themes and salient concerns of multiracial people andcommunities (e.g., uniqueness, acceptance and belonging, physical appearance, identity,
sexuality, self-esteem, visibility).
	
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Understand that the multiracial population continues to be a hidden population that isoften excluded from many discussions of racial and ethnic issues due to multiple heritage
individuals’ lack of identity with any one racial or ethnic group.
Understand the importance of using appropriate language when referring to multiracial
individuals, paying attention to the changing terms and definitions used to refer tomultiracial individuals.
Understand the importance of using race and cultural terminology that connects with theindividual’s perception of his or her identity.
Understand and appreciate that religious and spiritual values, or atheist or agnostic
identity, of multiracial individuals may influence coping and well-being.
Understand the historical impact of the “one-drop rule,” anti miscegenation, and labelingin the U.S. Census on multiracial individuals
Understand sociopolitical influences (e.g., history of anti-miscegenation laws, societal
stereotypes and biases) on multiracial individuals and communities.
Be familiar with the ACA competencies regarding multiculturalism, social justice,advocacy, transgender, and LGBQQIA people, and use these competencies as a lens todevelop advocacy and empowerment interventions with multiracial individuals.

Helping Relationships
Competent Counselors will:• Understand that multiracial identity may not be the reason for seeking counseling• Communicate counselor understanding and valuing of multiracial clients’ backgrounds
and experiences.
• Refrain from assumptions that counselor experiences of multiracial backgrounds will besimilar to a client’s experiences of multiracial backgrounds.
• Assess and collaboratively identify client strengths and challenges related to multiracial
backgrounds if identity is the focus of counseling.
• Assess the degree to which clients experience resilience and oppression related to theirmultiracial backgrounds.
• Advocate for multiracial clients when there are institutional and/or systemic barriers
impacting the client.
• Understand that the counselor’s cultural identity, cultural expression, and beliefs about
multiracial individuals are relevant to the helping relationship, and these identities andconcepts influence the counseling relationship and process.
• Recognize that if multiple heritage identity development concerns are part of thecounseling process, counselors acknowledge experience, training and expertise inworking with multiracial individuals at the initial visit while discussing informed consent.
Counselors seek supervision and consultation as necessary.
• Recognize and acknowledge that, historically, counseling and other helping professions
have compounded the discrimination of multiracial individuals by being insensitive,
inattentive, uninformed, and inadequately trained and supervised to provide culturally
sensitive and proficient services to multiracial individuals.
	
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Facilitate an open discussion to identify the effects of prejudice and discrimination
experienced by multiracial individuals and help them overcome potential negative beliefs
about themselves and their multiracial or multiple heritage identities.
Work collaboratively with the client to explore the client’s ecological world for supportand resistance if multiracial identity is the reason for seeking counseling.
Understand that client chronological and developmental age may shape counseling focus,
direction, and theoretical approach. If multiracial identity development concerns are thereason for seeking counseling, encourage the client to freely explore all parts of his or her
identity through multiple means (e.g. talk therapy, bibliotherapy, genealogy work, family
counseling, internet exploration).

Group Work
Culturally Competent Counselors will:• Be aware of their experiences of multiracial people and how these experiences influence
their cultural awareness, skills, and ability as a group leader to provide a culturally
congruent and affirming group experience for multiple heritage group members.
• Understand the unique experiences of race/ethnicity that multiracial individuals may have
had in society that will affect them as group members.
• Provide explicit support as a group leader for multiracial individuals.
• Refrain from assumptions that group members are monoracial or monoethnic.
• Be familiar with the ways that multiracial individuals may define wellness, health, andother mental health constructs.
• Provide opportunities for multiracial group members to identify themselves any way they
select and know that individuals with similar cultural, racial, and ethnic backgrounds may
choose to identify differently.
• Be aware of the unique status of an individual who may be the only multiracial groupmember and create a safe group environment in which that person can share his or her
experiences. It is important to ensure that appropriate and affirmative language is used torefer to multiracial individuals.
• Be aware that general group theories have not been normed on the multiracial population• Recognize that although group support can be very helpful for multiracial individuals,
peer pressure from group members to conform to specific racial and/or ethnic identities
may emerge within the group and should be addressed.
• Seek consultation and supervision to ensure that the group leader’s potential biases andknowledge deficits do not negatively affect group dynamics for the multiracial individual.
• Recognize that multiracial individuals in groups may be at different identity developmentlevels and embrace different viewpoints about what it means to be multiracial.
• Embrace the idea that groups can be a microcosm of society, which may influence thegroup dynamics and a multiracial individual’s presence as a group member depending on
how the individual has been affected by society.
• Understand societal influence on client experiences of multiracial identity and provide
safe and inviting group spaces that allow openness regardless of group type (e.g.,
psychoeducation, group task, counseling, psychotherapy, brief)	
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Career Development
Culturally Competent Counselors will:• Assist multiracial individuals with exploring career choices that best facilitate identity
formation and job satisfaction.
• Acknowledge the potential problems associated with career assessment instruments thathave not been normed for the multiracial population.
• Link clients with racially and culturally open individuals who can serve as mentors andconnect them with resources that increase their awareness of career options.
• Be aware that many career and lifestyle development theories were not developed withmultiracial individuals in mind, nor have many been normed on these groups.
• Conduct a thorough cultural assessment when assessing career and lifestyle developmentwith multiracial individuals.
• Understand that the ways multiracial individuals are racially and ethnically viewed by coworkers may affect their work satisfaction and comfort in their environment.
• Understand how multiracial individuals’ physical appearance can affect their career andwork choices.
• Understand that physical appearance can affect others’ perceptions of multiracial
individuals’ career and work choices.
Assessment
Culturally Competent Counselors will:• Understand how racism and other oppressive systems influence the use of assessmentwith multiracial individuals, and identify ways to address inequities when using
assessments with this population.
• Recognize that multiracial identity and expression vary from one individual to the next,
and that this natural variation should not be interpreted negatively.
• Understand that a goal of counseling with multiracial individuals is to provide acomprehensive psychosocial mental health assessment that should encompass all life
areas including: race, ethnicity, religion, language, sexual orientation, and all othercultural factors that affect identity development of multiracial individuals.
• Have knowledge of how single race/ethnicity identification is promoted and maintained
within society, and how these dynamics influence the assessment of multiracial
individuals.
• Apply ethical standards when utilizing assessment tools such as tests, measurements, andthe current edition of the DSM, and recognize that these assessments that may not havebeen normed with multiracial individuals.
• Recognize that when utilizing race and cultural assessments not all have been normed
with multiracial individuals.
• Understand that there has been limited work on creating instruments normed withmultiracial individuals.

	
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Recognize that intake, screening, assessment and other demographic forms havehistorically grouped the multiracial identity into an “other” category or asked for theclient to “check one box” when identifying race.

Research and Program Evaluation
Culturally Competent Counselors will:• Understand that research with multiracial individuals is not free of bias on the part of theresearcher. Explicitly identify any researcher bias about multiracial (multiple heritage)
individuals, couples, and families in any study activities, publications, or presentations
that will incorrectly skew researcher methodologies and/ or findings.
• Refrain from comparing multiracial individuals to individuals of monoracial status.
• Be aware of existing and current multiracial research and literature regarding social andemotional wellbeing and challenges, identity formation, resilience and coping withdiscrimination, and issues involving medical treatment options.
• Understand the evolution of multiracial research when designing a current study focusing
on this population.
• Consider limitations of existing literature and existing research methods regarding
multiracial individuals such as sampling, confidentiality, data collection, measurement,
and generalizability.
• Be aware of the gaps in literature and research regarding the experiences of counselingmultiracial individuals and related counseling needs and concerns.
• Consider how critical consumption of research may assist with understanding needs,
improving quality of life, and enhancing counseling effectiveness for multiracial
individuals.
• Make multiracial-focused research available to the multiple heritage community bymaking the results and implications of research accessible for the community,
practitioners, and academic community. Conduct research activities that will enhance theidentity development of multiracial individuals.
Professional Orientation and Ethical Practice
Culturally Competent Counselors will:• Acknowledge that although a comprehensive understanding of all issues and concerns
faced by multiracial (multiple heritage) individuals may not be possible, it remains
important to know where to access affirmative information about and resources for thispopulation.
• Seek consultation and/or supervision to ensure that personal biases do not negatively
affect the client-counselor relationship or the counseling outcomes of the multiracial
individual.
• Seek professional development opportunities to enhance attitudes, knowledge, andcounseling skills related to working with multiracial individuals.
• Support a public dialogue that affirms multiracial identity expression.
	
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Provide advocacy efforts at the micro, meso, and macro levels to develop consciousnessraising and public awareness of the multiracial population’s concerns, history,sociopolitical influences, resilience, and strengths. 	
  Understand that the ACA Ethics Code and related standards (e.g., cultural competence,
nonmaleficence, integrity, justice) guide counseling work with multiracial individuals
and communities.
Section III: Transracial Adoption
The practice of placing children into adoptive families across racial and often culturallines has been utilized in the U. S. for over 60 years. Sixty-four percent of Americans reported
being affected by adoption via personal experience, familial relationships, or friendships (Evan
B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, 2002). Recent estimates suggest 84% of all international
adoptions are transracial (Vandivere, Malm, & Radel, 2009) and that at least 40% of all
adoptions in the U.S. are transracial (Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, 2011). Despite anincrease in social and cultural references to transracial adoption in society, the practice oftransracial adoption in particular and adoption in general continues to carry a social stigma(Wegar, 2000), with a well-documented history of mental health concerns (Miller et al., 2000).
Language and Definitions
Those affected by transracial adoption have been referred to as the adoption triad(adopted persons, adoptive parents, and birth parents). However, this term fails to incorporate all
stakeholders in transracial adoption. We use the term transracial adoption kinship network(TrAKN) throughout this document, encompassing the adopted persons, adoptive parents, birthparents, foster parents, grandparents, and extended family members who are affected by and livewith transracial adoption. With respect to terminology, transracial adoptions are also often
international (also known as transnational or intercountry adoptions) and may be transcultural aswell. Within the field of adoption, the term interracial adoption is also used interchangeably to	
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refer to transracial adoption. For the purpose of this document, the term transracial adoption
will be used throughout.
Many misconceptions and much misinformation exist about the practice of transracial
adoption. In an attempt to redress such misconceptions, details related to the transracial adoptive
kinship network competencies are described below, including a brief overview of the history andpractice of transracial adoption.
Overview of Transracial Adoption
The histories of transracial adoption and international or intercountry adoption havedistinct trajectories yet also overlapping outcomes. Essentially, international adoptions are oftentransracial in nature (racial ethnic differences) yet they also have the additional element of
cultural and country of origin differences (Baden, Treweeke, & Ahluwalia, 2012). Clinical,
developmental, and identity issues for adoptees and their families may be similar for bothtransracial and international adoptees, but other facets of international adoptees’ historical andenvironmental experiences may differ due to social, political, and economic disparities between
the sending and receiving countries in international adoption. Below we highlight some pivotal
events that impact the experience and practice of transracial adoption.
Domestic transracial adoption. Between 1958 and 1967 under the Indian Adoption
Project, domestic transracial adoptions began to be practiced wherein Native American children
were removed from birth families and reservations and placed in white American homes (USDepartment of the Interior, 1966). In the 1960s, American children of African descent andbiracial children were placed with White adoptive parents (Lee, 2003). This practice oftransracial adoptive placements came under scrutiny and was highly criticized in the statement
issued in 1972 by the National Association of Black Social Workers (NABSW). The NABSW	
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predicted negative consequences for Black children’s racial identity, adjustment, and preparation
for coping with racism and oppression; referred to transracial adoption as “cultural genocide;”and called for a halt on these adoptions (NABSW, 1972).
Similarly, the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) of 1978 was enacted to end the forcible
relinquishment and adoption of Native American children. These events had important
repercussions. A preference for same-race adoptions was promoted and the beginning of a newresearch literature base commenced in which transracial adoptions and their outcomes were thefocus of empirical investigations. Researchers focused primarily on the adoptions of Black andbiracial children with African ancestry and their psychological adjustment and racial identities.
In response to the overrepresentation of children of color in foster care and without permanent
placements, the Multiethnic Placement Act of 1994 and the Interethnic Placement Act of 1996
were passed to prohibit agencies that received federal funding from denying or delaying
placements of children based on race, national origin, or color and required agencies to develop
strategies to recruit families that represented available children’s racial and ethnic diversity.
The lived experiences for members of the TrAKN include multiple challenges: (a)development of varied identities (adoptive, racial, ethnic, and cultural), (b) navigation throughthe process of reculturation (Baden et al., 2012), (c) decision making regarding search andreunion, and (d) resolution of adoption-related stressors. Racial differences within families canfurther complicate the experiences for transracial adoptees and their kinship network.
International or intercountry adoption. Some of the first large scale transracial
adoptions were also international adoptions following World War II and the Korean War(Brumble & Kampfe, 2011; Zamostny et al., 2003). Children orphaned or abandoned during
these wars were adopted by U.S. parents who were almost exclusively White. Despite the drastic
	
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decrease in domestic transracial adoption after 1972, international adoptions continued to bepracticed where foreign born children were orphaned or abandoned due to war, poverty, social,or political problems. Major sending countries in international adoption have shifted over theyears depending on the political, social, economic, and cultural events that have contributed to
the need for social welfare solutions. From the 1950s to the present, South Korea has often beena major sending country. Other prominent sending countries have included Vietnam, Russia,
China, and Guatemala. In 2004, the numbers of international adoptions to the U.S. reached theirhighest point (22,991 adoptions) but have been in rapid decline since that time due to increased
regulatory oversight internationally (e.g., The Hague Convention on Protection of Children and
Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption) as well as due to changes politically,
economically, and socially in sending countries (Selman, 2012b). Despite these shifts in rates ofinternational adoption, overall more than one million children have been adopted internationally(Selman, 2012a); almost a quarter of million were adopted between 1999 and 2013 (Bureau ofConsular Affairs, U.S. Department of State, n.d.a).
The Hague Convention has been instrumental in shifting the trajectory of international
adoptions. This international agreement, established in 1993 and signed by the U. S. in 1994,
was not enacted by the U. S. until 2008 (Bureau of Consular Affairs, U.S. Department of State,n.d.b). The purpose of this agreement was to prevent child trafficking or abduction, to ensure
placements in the best interests of children, and to find permanent homes for children when suchhomes are unavailable in their home countries.
The changes described above and the burgeoning ethical questions raised about
international adoption placements have created an atmosphere in which critiques and questions
about the practice of international adoptions contribute to the complexity of international	
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adoption. Disparities (e.g., cultural, political, economic, social) that exist among adoptees,
adoptive parents, and birth parents are a major source of challenge in navigating adoption and themeaning adoptees make of their adoptions. Other complex aspects of international adoption
include establishing and managing intercountry relationships between birth parents and adoptees(pre- and post-reunion) and incorporating the realities of international adoption history into
adoptees’ self-stories. All these tasks and challenges can be addressed more effectively bycounselors who have attained high levels of adoption competence.
Competencies for Working with Transracial Adoptees and theTransracial Adoption Kinship Network
Human Growth and Development
Culturally Competent Counselors will:• Have knowledge of the lifelong impact of adoption and understand that the transracial
adoption kinship network (TrAKN) experiences adoption- specific tasks throughout thelifespan as described within the Adoptive Family Life Cycle (e.g., Hajal & Rosenberg,
1991).
• Understand that Adoption Related Developmental Tasks (e.g., Brodzinsky, Schechter, &Henig, 1991) may vary depending on age at placement, relinquishment factors, andadoptive parents’ intentions when adopting.
• Recognize that racial, ethnic, and adoptive identity development may span throughout theindividual and family’s lifetime and may not parallel mainstream identity development
models as a result of adoptive context, stigma, and other social factors (e.g., reculturationand ethnic/racial socialization).
• Understand that the racial differences between adoptees and their parents may result in
shifting parent-child relationship dynamics around race, culture, and adoption throughout
the lifespan.
• Be aware of the complex challenges that search, reunion (e.g., between birth family
members and adoptees), and reunification (e.g., youth in foster care returning tobiological parents) efforts, both domestic and international, can have on relationships andthe developmental processes for all members of the TrAKN.
• Understand the implications of closed versus open adoption experiences on the TrAKN
throughout the lifespan.
• Have knowledge of the challenges experienced by birth parents/first parents throughout
their lifespan (e.g., ambiguous loss, grief, trauma) that are often unacknowledged andhidden due to the stigma of transracial adoption placement.
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styles, adjustment, adoption acknowledgment, racial consciousness) that impact theirparenting and their adopted children's adjustment, mental health, identities, and coping
skills.
Recognize the impact of the parent-child relationship throughout the lifespan that may be
due to the adoptive parents’ pre-adoptive histories as they may influence their parenting
and their adopted children's development.
Recognize the pervasive stigma of adoption found across all institutions, including
mental health, educational, and medical communities, manifested as a bias toward
biologicalism and the over-pathologizing of members of the TrAKN.
Recognize current and historical biases in society that ascribe greater pathology tofamilies formed through adoption, or to birth parents choosing adoption, which cannegatively affect the identity development processes of TrAKN.
Understand that all members of the TrAKN will have unique and distinct identities andrelated self-descriptors, that (a) are uniquely formed and dynamic across the lifespan, (b)may be different from and similar to their adopted and nonadopted peers, and (c) may or
may not reflect an affiliation with adoption or their biological race or culture.
Promote a community network of supportive adults and peers reflecting their adoptive
racial and ethnic status, to facilitate healthy and positive identity development of all
related TAKN members.
Possess understanding of one’s own developmental process and status in regards touniversal developmental milestones and racial and cultural identity development,
including awareness of how one’s own intersecting identities will affect the counselingprocess with TAs and members of the adoption kinship network (TrAKN).
Commit to staying abreast of contemporary research related to the healthy identity
development of all TrAKN members.

Social and Cultural Diversity
Culturally Competent Counselors will:• Be self-aware of one’s own racial and cultural identities and attitudes, beliefs, and biases
toward the practice and experience of transracial adoption.
• Understand the importance of strong racial and cultural identities for transracial adoptees
as providing a buffer against societal discrimination, with the ability to educate essential
others (e.g., adoptive parents, teachers) of this fact.
• Understand the racial identity development process for TAs as a nonlinear process andacknowledge the broad range of identity development models, including those specific totransracial adoptive identity.
• Understand racial and ethnic discrimination within society, the damaging impact of a“color blind” attitude and a lack of racial consciousness, and their potentially negative
effects on TAs and transracial families as a whole.
• Assess and strengthen racial and cultural identities of TAs, explore the impact ofinternalized racism and oppression, and educate parents on ways to address those issues
as they impact adoptees.
• Advocate for transracial adoptees who experience racial, ethnic, or cultural	
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discrimination or oppression (including education of related family members andcommunity groups).
Recognize that TAs’ strengths and resiliencies allow them to live fully functioning,
healthy lives despite experiences of discrimination and oppression, and avoid thehistorical tendency to over-pathologize adoption and communities of color.
Recognize the complex ways intersecting identities (e.g., adoption status, race, ethnicity,
sex, class, ability, sexual identity, national origin, religious affiliation) influence thebehaviors and developmental process of TAs, to engender contrasting experiences of
oppression and privilege.
Recognize the impact of racial microaggressions and adoption microaggressions
experienced by transracial adoptive families and individuals.
Explore with TAs the distinctions among the culture of adoption (e.g., shared knowledgeof behaviors, language, vocabulary, experiences related to adoption), birth culture,
adoptive family culture, and lived culture to support the identity development of TAs.
Recognize the importance of TAs’ engagement in reculturative activities (i.e., immersion,education, and experience, to reclaim aspects of birth culture) in the process of racial,
cultural, and adoptive identity development.

Helping Relationships
Culturally Competent Counselors will:• Recognize their own status within the adoption community (i.e., adoptive person,
adoptive parent, nonadoptive individual) and how that may impact the counseling process(e.g., transference and countertransference).
• Ensure that all clinical-related paperwork and intake processes provide transracial
adoption-related language/options that are inclusive, including for same-sex parents, andaffirming of adoption.
• Broach racial, cultural, and adoption topics (Day-Vines et al., 2007) to effectively
facilitating the racial and cultural identity development of the TrAKN and efficacious
parenting of the TrAKN.
• Seek continuing education and current knowledge in contemporary evidenced-based
theories, practices, and laws/policies related to the TrAKN.
• Seek consultation/supervision to address biases or to supplement any knowledge deficit
in TrAKN best practices.
• Utilize a strengths-based approach with TrAKN members experiencing typical transracial
adoption challenges rather than a deficit or pathology-based model.
• Be skilled in attachment-based therapies (e.g., Theraplay, Filial Family Therapy,
Multidimensional Family Therapy) and be able to form a working alliance with TrAKN
members.
• Form therapeutic alliances with key family members within the TrAKN to strengthen
collaborations within counseling relationships.
• Throughout the counseling relationship, recognize the fluctuating salience of both
adoption-related and race-related concerns in TrAKN members.
• Collaborating within the counseling relationship to apply the model of oppression, power,	
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and privilege and to acknowledge adoption stigma when working with TrAKN members.
Understanding the risks and benefits of reunion, including international reunions, andsubsequent reunion maintenance issues for all members of the TrAKN.

Group Work
Culturally Competent Counselors will:• Recognize the benefits of group services (distinct from pre-adoption educationalcourses), including counseling, therapeutic, psychoeducational, and support groups inaiding all TrAKN members at both pre-and-post adoptive periods.
• Recognize the efficacy of group work in normalizing TrAKN members’ experiences andidentities, thereby acknowledging and reinforcing a culture of adoption.
• Recognize core areas to address in group work with TrAKN members, such as (but notlimited to) identity development, attachment parenting, discrimination, parenting skills,
antiracist advocacy, and grief and loss.
• Facilitate discussions of race and culture in groups, including recognition of member
biases; address varied levels of awareness and comfort around such topics.
• Confront TrAKN members’ biases related to race and culture, including beliefs,
internalized oppression, and external actions that may be biased in nature.
• Create group rules that reduce bias (such as the dominant norm of biologicalism),
judgment, and stigma toward TrAKN group members.
• Increase understanding of their own sociocultural identities, positive and negative beliefs
regarding transracial adoption, and the way such tenets will influence group members andthe group process.
• Integrate best practices into group work with TrAKN members, including evidencebased practices for group modalities, and use of supervision and consultation.
Career Development
Culturally Competent Counselors will:• Understand how issues related to adoption (e.g., identity development; unresolved grief;
disrupted attachment with biological parents) may impact the development of interest andskills that inform career choices of TrAKN members.
• Identify and explore TAs’ skill sets, aptitudes, and interests that are uniquely informed bybiology (creativity, athleticism, academics) and that may differ from those of the adoptive
parents.
• Acknowledge the barriers related to career choice for people of color (such as systemic
oppression; lack of same-ethnic or racial role models in positions of power) that affectcertain members of the TrAKN community.
• Acknowledge the incongruence between TAs’ lived experience of oppression as peopleof color and their experience of White privilege through affiliation with their adoptive
family, and the impact this may have on TAs’ career self-efficacy.
• Educate family members and appropriate helping professionals regarding potential careerbarriers experienced by TrAKN members from marginalized populations.
	
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Address occupational stereotypes experienced by TAs, stemming from cultural and racialstereotypes and enacted through racial microaggressions (e.g., adoptees of African
descent as inherently athletic, and adoptees of Asian descent as skilled at math andscience).
Understand the discord that can result from a mismatch between adoptive parents’ andadoptees’ academic and career aptitudes.
Recognize that tasks related to racial/ethnic identity development (i.e., immersion in
one’s birth culture, or reunion with birth family members) may delay and alter careerdevelopment and decision making activities.
Stay abreast of the current literature on career counseling and research according to bestpractices with clientele of color, to consider ways it may uniquely apply to members of
the TrAKN community.

Assessment
Culturally Competent Counselors will:• Understand and adhere to the legal and ethical guidelines regarding best-practicestandards for assessments (e.g., ACA Code of Ethics, Standards for Multicultural
Assessment), and know current literature on the spectrum of adaptive and healthy
TrAKN functioning, to meet the unique needs of TrAKN members.
• Seek supervision/consultation with TrAKN communities and resources to supplement
knowledge base, minimize bias, and avoid inappropriate or harmful assessments.
• When assessing clients, recognize that initially presented issues in counseling may mask
adoption-related issues in need of clinical attention and assessment (e.g., relationshipchallenges as masking issues with oppression or internalized oppression).
• Avoid assessments that over-pathologize TrAKN members. Seek to eliminate bias toward
TrAKN members in assessments through careful consideration of the theories utilized,
item content, adoption insensitive language and meaning, normative samples, referral
questions, and dynamics in assessment interactions.
• Understand that primary considerations in assessment (e.g., measure development/item
development, normative samples, psychometric properties) must account for the diverse
experiences of TrAKN members in the creation, norming, administration, scoring,interpretation, and report-writing aspects of assessment.
• Advocate for the creation of appropriate norming groups for assessment measures that areused with TrAKN members, particularly TAs, to prevent biased interpretations ofassessments in various domains including adjustment indicators such as aptitude,
cognitive ability, personality, career, substance abuse, and interpersonal relationships.
• Use assessment measures including intake paperwork, interview protocols, and screening
measures that contain inclusive, adoption-sensitive language and that allows for thediverse family constellations and identities of TraAKN members (e.g., same sex parents,
foster and adopted family members, first/birth parents, diverse racial identifications
within families).
• Recognize that comprehensive assessments for TrAKN members includes attention totheir adoptive and relinquishment histories as well as the impact of early trauma, multiple	
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adoption/foster placements, relinquishment, oppression (racial, cultural, and adoptive),adoption placement, pre-adoptive history, post-adoption adjustment, adoption disruptions
or dissolutions, search and reunion attitudes and actions, identity, and racial and culturaldevelopment on TrAKN members’ counseling concerns.
Recognize the impact that standard assessment measurements including diagnostic tools
such as the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders reinforce stereotypes
and assumptions that negatively affect members of the TrAKN community (e.g., adoption
leads to attachment disorders and identity problems, preferences for biological familial
relationships, norms based on dominant, European American populations).
Understand that the results and labels generated by assessments may harmfully impact
TrAKN members, particularly the labeling of symptomology due to stress related toadoption or racial and ethnic discrimination (e.g., “angry adoptee,” a label that can beused to dismiss an adoptee’s complex feelings and reactions).
Understand that assessment may lead to an overrepresentation of TrAKN members inclinical populations (e.g., residential treatment, substance abuse/rehabilitation treatment,
counseling clientele, or special needs schools) due to myriad factors: (a) lack of counselor
training in adoption development and interventions; (b) ineffective early intervention
with normative adoption-related concerns; and (c) counselor lack of awareness of stigma
toward TrAKN members.
When assessing and diagnosing TrAKN clients, recognize that presenting concerns may
originate from varied sources, including: (a) universal developmental tasks; (b)racial/ethnic, cultural, and adoptive identity development statuses; (c) adoption-related
developmental tasks; (d) adoptive family life cycle tasks; and (e) symptoms of
psychopathology.

Research and Program Evaluation
Culturally Competent Counselors will:• Keep abreast of current empirical findings and evidenced-based practices related to all
TrAKN members (e.g., social and emotional well-being and challenges to TA identity
formation, resilience and coping with oppression, as well as ethical and empiricallysupported treatment options).
• Recognize weakness and pathology-based research perspectives of TrAKN members as
potentially harmful, unethical, and biased.
• Ensure that TrAKN-related scholarship is driven by strengths based, non-biased,
adoption-sensitive constructs and language (such as use of “made an adoption plan” asopposed to “gave up her child”).
• Recognize the unique strengths and information yielded with use of varied researchmethods (qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods) in TrAKN-related research.
• Understand how to collaborate with members from the TrAKN community to implement
and/or critically interpret adoption-related research.
• Understand limitations of existing adoption literature and research methods regarding:sampling (e.g., racial/religious diversity), confidentiality (e.g., certain adoptive identities
or stories that have not been shared with adoptive youth), and generalizability (e.g.,	
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•
•

research on internationally adoptees may not generalize to those adopted domestically).
Utilize research and program evaluation participation incentives to provide valuable
resources to TrAKN individuals and communities.
In adoption-related research, assess and account for participants’ contextual variables toincrease accurate interpretation of TrAKN members’ experiences (e.g., heritability, prepost adoption histories, adoptive parenting styles, TAs’ environments, adjustment, mental
health concerns, or other psychological constructs).

Professional Orientation and Ethical Practice
Culturally Competent Counselors will:• Develop and apply ethical decision-making models that account for the needs andconcerns of the TrAKN, and recognize the ethical issues inherent in adoption practice andthe clinical ramifications of unethical practice (e.g., coercion to relinquish children for
adoption, child trafficking, poorly regulated adoption systems).
• Advocate for improved clinical competence among professionals, including school andmental health counselors, counselors-in-training, supervisees, teachers, and the medical
community about issues and treatment needs unique to the TrAKN population.
• Recognize their ongoing ethical and clinical responsibility to all members of the TrAKN
when working with families that experience disruption, dissolution, or displacement, andcommit to providing ethical and responsible follow-up to provide continuity of care forall members (including minors) of the TrAKN.
• Acknowledge the unique confidentiality issues related to open adoption, open birthcertificate access, and sensitive pre-placement information of TrAKN members (e.g.,revealing relinquishment information or mental health histories of adoptees and birthparents).
• Obtain training and supervised experience in family counseling and family systems to
ethically and competently work with the TrAKN.
• Be able and willing to advocate for TRaKN clients’ dignity and welfare when challenged
by supervisors/colleagues/other professionals who may act upon personal beliefs orbiases regarding adoption or race/ethnicity.
• Seek specialized training/education through professional workshops and conferences,
professional literature, community engagement, and current news and events for TrAKN
individuals and communities.
• Advocate for and support TrAKN individuals and communities by providing affirmation,
acceptance, and supportive counseling services, and by engaging in social justice efforts
that address biased and oppressive institutional laws/mental health policies that affect the
TrAKN.
• Remedy the lack of adoption-sensitive training for working with members of the TrAKN
within Counselor Education programs by incorporating adoption-related information,
skills, and training within core curriculum coursework.

	
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Organizations:
Comeunity – www.comeunity.org
Critical Mixed Race Studies – www.criticalmixedracestudies.org
The Future of Children – www.futureofchildren.org
	
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Loving Day – www.lovingday.org
MAVIN Foundation – www.mavinfoundation.org
Mixed Heritage Center – www.mixedheritagecenter.org
Mixed Race Studies – www.mixedracestudies.org
National Council for Adoption – www.adoptioncouncil.org
PACT: An Adoption Alliance – www.pactadopt.org
	
  

	
  
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Glossary

Adoptee: A person who has been legally integrated into a family by parents to whom they were
not physically born. The term adopted child often indicates an adoptee who is still a child(Russell, 1996).
Adoption: Legally, adoption is the legal transfer (of a child) from birth parents to the care of
adoptive parent(s) who then assumes all the rights, responsibilities, and privileges of being thechild’s parent (Sifferman, 1993).
Adoptive family life-cycle: Refers to the tasks and patterns common among families who adopt(e.g., making the decision to adopt; application for adoption; the adoption; children’s
involvement in outside world; adolescents; young adulthood; later) (Hajal & Rosenberg, 1991).
Risk of dysfunction or emergence of symptoms is highest during the transition points between
stages or events.
Adoption-related developmental tasks (Brodzinsky, Schechter, & Henig, 1992): Adoption
stakeholders (particularly adoptees, adoptive parents, and birth parents) face various tasks at each
Eriksonian stage of development such as adjusting to the initial information they receive about
their adoption, exploring options for searching for birth parents, and coping with adoptionrelated loss.
Adoptive identity: Refers to adopted individuals’ sense of self as and their integration of theiradoption status and experiences into their personal narratives (Grotevant, 1997). Adoptive
identity must also incorporate adoption as being an assigned identity as opposed to a chosen
identity construct (also see “culture”).
Adoptive parent(s): A person or persons who become the permanent parent(s) to a childnot born to them from the legal process of adoption, with all the social and legal rights and	
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responsibilities of any parent (Sifferman, 1993).
Anti-miscegenation: Against race mixing and/or interracial marriage (Kelley & Root, 2003;
Root, 1992).
Attachment: Child's connection to a parent or other caregiver that endures over time, establishes
an interpersonal connection, and aids in the development of a sense of self.
Attachment parenting: This describes an overall parenting style that seeks to promote secureattachment strategies within the parent and child relationship.
Biologicalism: This refers to the preference within society for families formed biologically overfamilies formed through adoption or foster care. Families formed through biology are viewed as
more permanent and authentic than those formed through other means.
Bicultural: Refers to a person who is a product of two distinct cultural groups and moves
between two sets of cultural norms and expectations (Gibbs, 1989; Root, 1990).
Biracial: Refers to an individual whose parents are of two distinct socially constructed racial
groups. However, the term also accurately refers to an individual who has parents of the samesocially constructed racial group, when one or both parents are biracial or where there is a known
multigenerational family history of racial mixing that is significant to how the individual chooses
to identify (Kelley & Root, 2003; Root, 1992).
Closed adoption: An adoption that involves total confidentiality and sealed records, providing nocontact or identifying information between the individuals involved in the adoption (Gritter,1997). Adoption in the past century in America was dominated by this practice (Gritter, 1997;
Melina & Roszia, 1993, Pertman, 2000).
Culture: Is comprised of a set of shared beliefs, values, practices, attitudes, and traditions that areassociated within a group of people often linked by geographical and physical shared traits.
	
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Birth Culture: Refers to the culture into which a person was born and refers to one’s
culture of origin. Adopted individuals, particularly those adopted internationally and/ortransracially, are removed from caregivers and communities that represent their culture oforigin and are reared and adopted into a different culture.
Adoptive Family Culture: is the culture into which children are adopted. This culture isusually the culture of the adoptive parents. Adoptive family culture goes beyond thegeneral family rules and dynamics that all families possess; instead it refers to the larger
culture of the adoptive family that is often tied to ethnic and racial groups of the adoptive
parents.
Adopted/Lived Culture: refers to the culture that adopted persons practice. This culture
may not be their birth culture and many not be their adoptive family’s culture but instead
may be some combination (Baden, Treweeke, & Ahluwalia, 2012).

Disrupted Attachment: This refers to attachment relationship disconnections that can occur as aresult of the removal of a child from one family to a different family or placement (via adoption,
foster care, separation or divorce), when either the parent/caregiver or child experiences trauma
that impedes attachment, or via the death of a parent/caregiver.
Ethnicity: A social construct used to refer to a group of people who share similar aspects, such as
geographical locale, origins, religion, language, history, values, traditions, foods, and beliefs.
(Jones, 1997; Phinney, 1990). People who share an ethnicity can report different racial identities(see the definition of race, below).
Hapa: A Hawaiian term used to refer to an individual of Hawaiian and another national or racial
background. More recently used to refer to any individual of Asian or Pacific Islander ancestry
and another racial background or “someone who is both Japanese and Korean” (Kelley & Root,	
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2003, p.viii).
Interracial: Involving two or more socially constructed racial groups. The term typicallypertains to couples where each partner is of a different racial background; however the term isalso used to describe offspring of these unions and families (Kelley & Root, 2003).
Microaggressions: “Brief, commonplace, daily verbal, behavioral, or environmental indignities,
whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative … slights
and insults …” (Sue et al., 2007, p. 271). Racial microaggresssions are race-based, and are often
referred to as more subtle, modern forms of racism. Microaggressions can also target othergroups beyond race (e.g., ethnic, religious, and gendered groups).
Miscegenation: The act of sexual mixing within or out of marriage and between persons ofdistinctly different racial backgrounds (Spikard, 1989).
Mixed Heritage: A term used to describe persons who are of two or more different racial
backgrounds that considers the biological and cultural variables that underlie designations of raceand ethnicity (Stephan, 1992).
Mixed Race: Used to describe persons who are of two or more distinct racial backgrounds as aresult of their parents or grandparents being of different racial backgrounds (Kelley & Root,2003).
Monoracial: Being of, or claiming, a single racial heritage (Kelley & Root, 2003).
Multiethnic: Being of multiple ethnic backgrounds or heritages (Kelley & Root, 2003).
Multicultural: Being of multiple or several cultures (Kelley & Root, 2003).
Multiple Heritage: Defined in terms of an “individual that possesses multiple aspects of heritage
including, race, ethnicity, religion, language, gender, and national origin” (Henriksen &Paladino, 2009, p. xiii). By defining the individual in terms of multiple dimensions, we are able	
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to see the impact of the many aspects of the individual and the “intersections of gender, ethnicity,religion and spirituality, sexual orientation, national origin, indigenous heritage, geographic
region, and other cultural factors” (Henriksen & Paladino, 2009, p. xiii).
Multiracial: Refers to being of two or more racial heritages (Kelley & Root, 2003). The term isused in reference to couples, families, and individuals of two or more racial heritages.
Multiracial Population: An umbrella term inclusive of interracial or multiracial couples,
individuals, and families, and transracial adoptees and families.
Open Adoption: Open adoption is an arrangement agreed to by the adoptive parents and birthparents in which there is an ongoing connection between them, to be determined by the parties
involved” (Pavao, 1998, p. 128). Various degrees of openness may exist including mediated(agency workers share information with birth and adoptive) and fully disclosed adoptions(adoptive and birth families directly share information without the use of a mediator) (Grotevant& McRoy, 1997).
Postadoption adjustment: This refers to the collective process by which adopted persons,
adoptive parents, and birth/first families emotionally, psychologically, and physically adapt toand function after adoption placements (Brodzinsky & Livingston, 2014; Goldman & Ryan,
2011).
Race: A social construct often used to refer to one’s physical features (e.g., skin color, facial
features, hair texture). Smedley and Smedley (2005) cautioned that: “racial groups are notgenetically discrete, reliably measured, or scientifically meaningful” (p.16). The legal andpersonal meaning and definition of race has changed over time and differs according togeographic regions (and nations).
Racial Microaggressions: See microaggressions, above.
	
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Reculturation: The process by which transracial and international adoptees seek to reclaim birthculture that was lost upon adoption placement with racially and culturally different parents(Baden et al., 2012).
Relinquishment: Other words used to describe relinquishment include surrender or the phrase“making an adoption plan for one's child.” Indicates a voluntary release/termination of parental
duties and rights, which allows a child to then be adopted.
Reunion: A meeting between birth relatives and an adoptee. This is a result of a closed adoption,
whereby there is no contact between the birth family and adoptee.
Search: An attempt by an adoptee, birth parent, or adoptive parent to connect a biological childand a birth parent. The search process can be an emotionally stressful experience.
TA = Transracial Adoptee: A child who has been adopted by adults who are of a different
ethnicity or race from him or her.
Transracial adoption kinship network (TrAKN): Members of the transracial adoption kinshipnetwork (TrAKN): adoptive parents/parents; biological parents/birth parents/first parents/naturalparents; adoptee/adopted person; extended members from the birth/first/natural/bio family;extended members from the adoptive family; foster parents
Types of Adoption:•

Domestic Adoption: Adoption of a child in the nation where that child was born.

•

Foster Care: refers to the placement of children into a family for temporary care when
the children’s birth family is unable to care for them due to various challenges or when
awaiting future adoption.

•

Foster to Adopt or Foster Adoption: is a child placement with a foster family who will
adopt the child if the child becomes available for adoption. In these cases, birth parents’	
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parental rights may be in the process of being terminated.
•

International Adoption: is the adoption of a child from another country (often referred toas a “sending country”) by an adult(s) of another country (often referred to as a“receiving country”). These adoptions involve the immigration of the adopted child. Thisis also referred to as transnational adoption or intercountry adoption.

•

Kinship adoption: Sometimes called relative adoption or kinship care. Refers adoption bya relative, such as grandparent, aunt, uncle, tribe or clan, stepparents, or other extended
family member, godparent, or someone who is has a kinship bong with the child. In
kinship adoption, the adoption is formal and legal whereas in kinship care, the caregiving
may be informal or foster care.

•

Third Party Reproduction: refers to reproduction processes that go beyond the malefemale couple and may involve eggs or sperm from another person or the use of asurrogate (woman who carries an unrelated fertilized fetus to term).

•

Same-sex adoption: is when people of the same sex adopt a child. International adoption
was traditionally restricted to heterosexual couples but more recent practice has opened
adoption to same-sex couples. For many same-sex couples, one member of the couple
would adopt as a single parent but both members of the couple would parent.

•Single parent adoption: or the practice of adopting a child or children by a single person
without a partner, like same-sex adoption, has long been legal but was rarely practiced
until recent decades.

•

Stepparent Adoption: most common form of adoption, refers to the adoption of a child by
the new spouse of the birth parent.

•

Transcultural Adoption: refers to adoptions in which adoptive parents and adopted

	
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persons are from two different cultures of origin. Many of these types of adoptions arealso transracial (see below).
•

Transracial Adoption: refers to an adoption in which the adoptive parents and theadopted person are from two different racial and/or ethnic groups. Another term used forthis type of adoption is interracial adoption.	
  	
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