The complexion connection

Ideal light skin as vehicle of adoption process discrimination vis-à-vis social work practitioners

Datos Bibliográficos

ID2168843
AutoresRonald E Hall (0000-0003-1339-4603, Michigan State University), Ellen E Whipple (0000-0002-7415-7735, Michigan State University)
Año2017
Volumen27
Número7
Páginas669-677
Fecha de publicación2017-10-03
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaJournal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1091-1359 • E-ISSN: 1540-3556
EditorialInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/10911359.2017.1321511
OpenAlexW2613852680
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas1
Referencias citadas13

As it pertains to the adoption process, social work practice is in fact not a color-blind profession. The incidence of skin color discrimination by practitioners who place children is a consequence of the somatic norm image rooted in the mulatto hypothesis. Subsequently, light-skinned children are idealized at the expense of their dark-skinned counterparts as both are objectified. Discrepancies relative to skin color in the adoption process are a formidable challenge to investigate, given the limited available social work literature. While skin color as a demographic category may exist in the peer-reviewed literature, it is conspicuously absent from the databases which archive such literature. What is more, skin color discrimination is a breach of the National Association of Social Workers code of ethics. The elimination of adoption process discrimination will require macrostrategies grounded in policy. Said strategies for ethical adoptions couched in macropolicy must be fashioned from an evidence-based practice model

Connection (principal bundle · Ideal (ethics · Political science · Process (computing · Sociology · Work (physics · Computer Science · Engineering · Psychology · Youth Education and Societal Dynamics · Social Work · Social Psychology