Parents from America and children from China: A phenomenological study of cross-cultural adoption

China formally started its international adoption in 1991 and America has been a major recipient country ever since. After an introduction to the historical background of the Chinese international adoption and a brief review on the existing intercountry adoption studies, this dissertation provides findings of a phenomenological study on the cross-cultural adoption experience of twenty American families with children adopted from China. The essence of the experience of cross-cultural adoption from China is presented: cross-cultural adoption from China means a positive option of meeting the needs of both parents and children; it means a life long identity search and birth country connection; it also means being different forever. For the first time, this dissertation describes how the adoptive parents helped their adopted Chinese children construct substitutes for their birth parents and family so that a foundation was able to be built for the adopted children to develop a positive ethnic and self identity. Also for the first time, findings of the interviews with adopted children are presented to provide a basis for future study on adopted children from China. The implications for social work practice, education, policy and practice, and recommendations to adoptive parents are included in this dissertation, too.