In a 2018 study of White American adoptive mothers, researchers drew conclusions about the role of social capital in the upbringing of transracially adopted children. “Social capital” refers to the values that people hold and the resources that they can access which determine what socially negotiated ties they can create and maintain [4]. They discovered that values of diversity, inclusion, and immersion are key to developing personal, cross-cultural relationships between parent, child, and other role models. When it comes to connecting a transracially adopted child with other positive influencers, specifically those of the same minority community as the child, it is necessary to create two-way relationships based in reciprocity and trust; this ensures that White mothers are not simply utilizing their child’s social agents as purely a resource [4]. Such social agents can include local community members, nannies, school peers, healthcare professionals, and more. These active social agents help the child gain social capital by supporting their cultural exploration and formation of strong social bonds.

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With the process of racial-ethnic socialization comes worries of selective appropriation and consumption of cultural symbols which contribute to non-authentic experiences and marketization of culture [4]. To prevent this, it is important that all members of the adoptive family are involved in the socialization process to ensure that the transracially adopted child builds a sense of cultural self-identity based on relational and experiential learning [4]. Finding a community of peers who have commonalities with the child and the adoptive family is instrumental! It must be noted that adoptive mothers may feel a sense of “otherization” which refers to the involuntary feelings of isolation and exclusion from a minority community [4]. The intersectionality of social factors such as economic class, gender, and ethnicity creates differences that can be perceived as non-acceptance. Adoptive mothers can be consoled by the knowledge that any feelings of non-belonging are valid and can be overcome.