ADOPTION AS A METHOD OF FAMILY FORMATION IN AMERICA: AN EVALUATION OF HISTORICAL AND SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION

Yıl 2022, Cilt: 6 Sayı: 2, 54 - 77, 31.12.2022

Rebecca Lynn Mefford , Songül Sallan Gül

Öz

Adoption as a method of forming a family establishes kinship bonds that are not necessarily based on genetic relationships. The United States of America (U.S.A.) set some of the earliest regulations for the practice of adoption and continues to maintain the highest rates of adoption worldwide. This paper provides a historical overview of how adoption has developed and changed in America. In the context of family sociology, Parsons’s structural functionalist perspective on the modern, nuclear family is thought to reflect an idealized image of the American family that remained dominant up until the 1960’s. However, since then alternative perspectives to Parsons’s misogynistic and racially blind theory have been developed that can be used to explain adoption as a way of starting and maintaining a family. Particularly, Yuval-Davis’s theory has provided significant insights in understanding the family structure within society and how it has been transformed with changing boundaries for ethnic, racial, gender and sexual orientations. This includes an evolving conceptualization of parenthood, which once was embedded in the patriarchal notion that having a child was a duty to one’s nation. Her situated intersectionality theory is offered as an alternative and more helpful lens for drawing attention to the interplay between gender norms, biological biases, and racial prejudices in the social hierarchy of power. Yuval-Davis’s theory has further supplied important insights for seeing how the intersection of gender and race relations impact the American adoptive family’s precarious place on a changing grid of social power. This article thus utilizes situated intersectionality to analyze adoption in American society. By using an approach that is not commonly applied to the study of adoption, this paper offers a unique model for exploring the experience of adoptive families. In addition, this paper highlights the significance of intersectionality as a framework for understanding the globalizing dimensions of adoption, particularly as sexism and racism increase, which necessarily impact the process of adopting as a method of family formation.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Family, Adoption, Kinship, Biological Bias, Situated Intersectionality

AMERİKA’DA BİR AİLE KURMA BİÇİMİ OLARAK EVLAT EDİNME: TARİHSEL VE TOPLUMSAL DÖNÜŞÜM ÜZERİNE BİR DEĞERLENDİRME

Öz

Bir aile kurma biçimi olarak evlat edinme, genetik ilişkilere dayanmayan akrabalık bağları kurmaktadır. Amerika Birleşik Devletleri’nde (ABD), evlat edinme uygulaması en eski düzenlemelere ve dünya çapında en yüksek evlat edinme oranlarını sahip olan ülkelerden biridir. Bu makalede, evlat edinmenin Amerika'da nasıl geliştiğine dair tarihsel bir bakış sunulmakta ve değişim süreci değerlendirilmektedir. Aile sosyolojisi bağlamında Amerika’da 1960’lara kadar Parsons'ın modern, çekirdek aileye ilişkin yapısal işlevselci bakış açısının egemen olduğu ve idealleştirilmiş Amerikan aile imajını yansıttığı düşünülmüştür. Ancak, Parsons'ın cinsiyet ve ırk açısından kuramındaki körlük, aile kurma ve aileyi sürdürme biçimi olarak evlat edinmeyi açıklamada farklı bakış açılarının gelişmesine olanak tanımıştır. Toplumunun farklı etnik, ırk, toplumsal cinsiyet ve cinsel yönelimlerdeki değişimlerle dönüşen aile yapısını, çocuk sahibi olmanın ataerkil bir vatanseverlik görevi olmaktan çıkarak ebeveynliğe evirilme sürecinde evlat edinmenin değişimini anlamada özellikle Yuval-Davis'in kuramı önemli açılımlar sağlamıştır. Konumlandırılmış kesişimsellik kuramı, alternatif ve daha faydalı bir mercek sunumu, cinsiyet normlarının, biyolojik ve ırksal önyargıların evlat edinme süreçlerine yansıyan toplumsal güç ilişkileri boyutlarına dikkat çekmiştir. Yuval-Davis'in kuramı Amerikan ailesinin değişen sosyal güç hiyerarşisini anlamak, toplumsal cinsiyetin ırksal ilişkiler bağlamıyla güvencesiz kesişmsel ilişkilerini sorgulamak bakımından önemli açılımlar sağlamıştır. Bu makalede Amerikan toplumunda evlat edinmenin kesişimsel bir analizi yapılmaktadır. Bu yönüyle evlat edinme kurumuna yönelik araştırmalarda çok da yaygın olarak ele alınmayan bir yaklaşım olarak konumlandırılmış keşisimsellik bağlamı evlat edinen ailelerin deneyim süreçlerindeki rolünü sorgulamak bakımından bu makale özgün bir model sunmaktadır. Evlat edinmenin küreselleşen boyutlarını kavramak ve son yıllarda giderek şiddetini artıran ırkçılığın ve cinsiyetçiliğin ailede ve evlat edinme süreçlerindeki rolünü anlamak ve sorgulamak açısından konumlandırılmış kesişmselliğin önemini ortaya koymaktadır.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Aile, Evlat Edinme, Akrabalık, Biyolojik Önyargı, Konumlandırılmış Kesişimsellik

Kaynakça

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