Finding kinship in the twenty-first century: Matching gay New Yorkers with children through adoption and fostering
Item
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Title
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Finding kinship in the twenty-first century: Matching gay New Yorkers with children through adoption and fostering
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Identifier
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d_2009_2013:b271e3b7ab18:11034
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identifier
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11371
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Creator
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Horridge, Lynn,
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Contributor
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Shirley Lindenbaum
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Date
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2011
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Cultural anthropology | LGBTQ studies | Social work | Individual & family studies | Adoption | Family | Gender | GLBT | Kinship | Race
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Abstract
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This dissertation focuses on how gay New Yorkers go about building families and finding kinship through the adoption and fostering of children. Since the 1990s, the U.S. child welfare system has become increasingly privatized. This has had a dramatic impact on who can adopt and who gets adopted. This research pays special attention to the history of "matching" in American adoption practices and how some gays and lesbians have emerged as suitable adopters despite continuing struggles to gain recognition on other gay rights issues such as marriage. I argue that gay and lesbian New Yorkers who adopt, like their heterosexual counterparts, benefit greatly from the neoliberalization of child welfare services in ways that both positively and negatively affect children in need of care.;Gays and lesbians, particularly white gays and lesbians, have been placed with children through fostering and adoption for the past twenty years, riding a wave of increasing mainstream tolerance and visibility. This trend marks a tremendous achievement for some gays and lesbians still struggling to gain rights equal to their heterosexual peers. As this dissertation shows, however, matching practices leave legacies of race, class, and gender inequalities intact.;Fieldwork for this dissertation was conducted from 2002 to 2008 in New York City and in Guatemala during the summer of 2003. New York City is known for its overcrowded foster care system and open attitude toward gay family forms. Guatemala became a "hot spot" for gay adopters from the United States for a short period in the early 2000s. Research in these two locales allows for a rich description of the many factors influencing contemporary American adoption practices. Data was collected through recorded interviews with gay adopters and adoption professionals in New York City as well as participation in gay adoption support groups, foster-to-adopt training settings, and numerous adoption-related information events, academic and professional conferences.;Drawing on these experiences, this dissertation shows how some gay New Yorkers have managed to gain recognition as qualified parents to children in need of families, and how they negotiate their identities toward successful adoption placements. It also shows the wide spectrum of possibilities for gay New Yorkers as they approach the adoption of non-biological children, from the adoption of newborns to the fostering of gay teenage youth.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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2009_2013.csv
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degree
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Ph.D.
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Program
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Anthropology
