The Diversity and Complexity of the Everyday Lives of Mixed Racial and Ethnic Families: Implications for Adoption and Fostering Practice and Policy

Recent research on mixed racial and ethnic couples and lone parents in Britain indicates that not only are they a diverse group, but they also have a diversity of ways of understanding their difference and creating a sense of belonging for their children (Caballero et al, 2008; Caballero, 2010, 2011). Such research strongly challenges the idea that there is - or should be - a single benchmark of how to raise children from mixed racial and ethnic backgrounds. Nevertheless, placement decisions for this broad group of children are often still rooted in longstanding and politicised assumptions about their identities and how best to instil a positive and healthy sense of self (Phoenix, 1999; Okitikpi, 2005; Goodyer and Okitikpi, 2007; Patel, 2008). Drawing on three recent studies exploring the everyday experiences of lone and couple parents of mixed racial and ethnic children, Chamion Caballero, Rosalind Edwards, Annabel Goodyer and Toyin Okitikpi discuss the ways in which mixed racial and ethnic children who are not in the care system experience difference and belonging within their families, and how they negotiate and manage these factors. In particular, this article illustrates the types of strategies and supports that parents draw on to give their children a positive sense of identity and belonging, as well as the ways in which other issues can be more significant for mixed racial and ethnic children and their parents than what they often see as ‘ordinary’ internal family difference. Arguing that the demographics and experiences of mixed racial and ethnic families are much more diverse and complex than is commonly imagined, the authors ask to what extent policies and practice around the placement of mixed racial and ethnic children reflect the lives of those families outside the care system. Moreover, in what ways can or should the experiences of these families inform policy and practice for those within it? Implications for adoption and fostering practice and policies emerging from this more multifaceted understanding of the everyday lives of racially and ethnically mixed families are also discussed.