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This study examined gene-environment correlation (rGE) in intellectual and academic development in 561 U.S.-based adoptees (57% male; 56% non-Latinx White, 19% multiracial, 13% Black or African American, 11% Latinx) and their birth and adoptive parents between 2003 and 2017. Birth mother intellectual and academic performance predicted adoptive mother warmth at child age 6 ([beta] = 0.14, p = 0.038) and 7 ([beta] = 0.12, p = 0.040) but not 4.5 years, and adoptive father warmth at 7 ([beta] = 0.18, p = 0.007) but not 4.5 or 6 years. These rGE effects were not mediated by children's language. Contrary to theory that rGE accounts for increasing heritability of intellectual ability, parenting did not mediate genetic effects on children's language or academic performance.

Although the adoption rate among same-sex couples has been increasing, limited research has focused on factors influencing decision making related to placing children with such couples, particularly from the standpoint of birth mothers. Additionally, there is a gap in the literature regarding how biases may influence birth mothers' decision to place their child with a same-sex couple. This study sought to examine the association between birth mothers' racial ideologies and their decision to voluntarily place their children with same-sex couples (n = 29) or mother--father couples (n = 354) during the adoption process. Results indicated that birth mothers with stronger color evasive racial attitudes were significantly less likely to place their children with same-sex couples. The need for additional research about the intersections among various forms of bias in the adoption process and the effect of potential interactions between homophobia and racism are discussed. Suggestions for professionals wishing to minimize homophobic and racist bias are provided.

This study utilised the Early Growth and Development Study (N = 561 adoptive children; 57.2% male, 55.3% White), a study of children adopted at birth, to examine heritable (birth parent psychopathology) and prenatal risk (prenatal maternal distress and smoking during pregnancy), infant negative affectivity, adoptive parent over-reactivity and warmth as independent predictors of childhood externalising symptoms. The current study evaluated if: (1) infant negative affectivity and over-reactive parenting are candidate mediators for the effects of heritable and prenatal risk on externalising symptoms and (2) parental warmth weakens the influence of heritable risk, prenatal risk, negative affectivity and over-reactive parenting on externalising symptoms. There were main effects of heritable risk, infant negative affectivity and over-reactive parenting on child externalising symptoms. The study found no support for the hypothesised mediation and moderation effects, suggesting that targeting parental over-reactivity rather than warmth would be more effective in reducing the risk for childhood externalising symptoms.

The Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 (ICWA) sought to end the forced removal of Native children from their tribes. Decades later, American Indian children are still placed in foster and adoptive care at disproportionately high rates. Drawing on forty years of archival data, this study examines the role of administrative burden in reproducing these inequalities and the system of domination from which they arise: settler colonialism. Focusing on three arenas--notice, meeting and hearing involvement, and foster family certification--this article illuminates the burdens imposed on tribal governments that serve as mediating institutions in ICWA implementation. Findings suggest that burdens have particularly strong consequences for inequality when they fall on third-party organizations. They also demonstrate how administrative burden operates as a mechanism for the reproduction of settler-colonial domination.

To read this article, it is important to know that I am a transnational (but not transracial) adoptee and that my Taiwanese birth mother hoped my adoption would give me a "better" life in the United States. I present three interconnected arguments that introduce the concept of a "nomen"curriculum. The first argument is that my and others' names are infused with multiple ideologies and aspirations. Second, I contend that names are part of a lived curriculum. Lastly, I assert that names are an analytical lens that allows me to examine lived curricula that emerges from names and namings. I do so by studying my own three namings using AsianCrit and decolonial analyses as well as how each (my English given name, Cantonese given name, and Mandarin given/chosen name) represents attempts at assimilation, erasure, and reclamation, respectively. I use critical race archival analyses and rememory of documents from my own adoption case files from Taipei District Court, the Superior Court of California, and a family study of my parents--the only extant records of my namings. Through my examination of my lived and school curricula, I highlight the global contexts and power dynamics that impact students' self-knowledge and their resistance against official discourses. This article, then, elucidates the analytic possibility of a nomencurriculum, which contributes to the field of curriculum studies by considering the power of names and namings. The nomencurriculum provides a way for individuals to engage with their lived curricula within formalized educational spaces that tighten their senses of self and often reinforce state-sanctioned narratives.

Parenting and children's temperament are important influences on language development. However, temperament may reflect prior parenting, and parenting effects may reflect genes common to parents and children. In 561 U.S. adoptees (57% male) and their birth and rearing parents (70% and 92% White, 13% and 4% African American, and 7% and 2% Latinx, respectively), this study demonstrated how genetic propensity for temperament affects language development, and how this relates to parenting. Genetic propensity for negative emotionality inversely predicted language at 27 months ([Beta] = -0.15) and evoked greater maternal warmth ([Beta] = 0.12), whereas propensity for surgency positively predicted language at 4.5 years ([Beta] = 0.20), especially when warmth was low. Parental warmth ([Beta] = 0.15) and sensitivity ([Beta] = 0.19) further contributed to language development, controlling for common gene effects.

Context: Adoption can provide a lifetime of benefits for children. Some adoptions however, experience severe challenges resulting in disruption, with children leaving home prematurely. Method: This qualitative study in Northern Ireland used interviews with parents from thirteen families whose adoptions had disrupted, to explore their perspective on the experience. Findings: Key findings focused on issues relating to firstly, the adopted child; secondly, adoption services; and finally, the parents and other family members. The impact of early adverse experiences on the children (developmental trauma) played out through behaviours, often violent, that their parents found extremely challenging. These increased as the children aged and had serious effects on family life. The adoptive parents thought they could have been better prepared through the adoption process to face challenging behaviours and more appropriately supported to prevent disruption. When their adopted child was admitted to state care, the parents typically felt initial relief but also guilt and loss. After the child had left home, they generally wished for more involvement with him or her despite the difficulties experienced. Discussion: This study confirmed previous findings about the extent of trauma experienced by some adoptive children, and the challenges that this may present to the adoptive parents. It highlighted how the manifestation of the trauma experienced by the child may lead to adoptive parents themselves experiencing primary or secondary trauma or compassion fatigue (defined in the Discussion section below) or a combination of all three. The preparation of adoptive parents should include greater awareness of possible challenges, and how to cope with these. The development of trauma-informed approaches to practice and service delivery is required to support families with adopted children more effectively. Co-production models for service development may assist in addressing the types of issues identified in post-adoption support services.

The current study presents the results of a qualitative investigation into the perspectives of mothers who have adopted children who are deaf or hard of hearing. Nine mothers, recruited via convenience and snowball sampling, participated in semi-structured interviews via videoconference technology. The interviews were transcribed and coded for thematic analysis. Parent perspectives on the following topics were analyzed: motivation, reaction to identification, communication and technology decisions, language, services pre- and post-adoption, others' reactions, expectations, race and ethnicity, and attachment and adjustment. Based on thematic analysis of the participants' responses, key themes and implications for professional practice are proposed.

Children adopted from care become part of a hidden, but no less vulnerable, group in the education system and may be overlooked for allocation of additional support and guidance. Adoption is a relatively unique experience and adds layers of complexity, difference and vulnerability to young people's lives that are poorly understood and under-researched. Adopted adolescents face significant challenges in social, emotional and behavioural aspects of school life. An attainment gap persists throughout their educational career. Adoptees are strikingly absent from many conversations regarding care-experienced young people yet their needs and challenges are comparable with those of their peers remaining in the care system. Assumptions are made about adoptees' opportunity and capacity to recover, concealing challenges faced in adjusting to adoptive life, including education. The impact of adoptees' early experiences could lead to complex identity formation processes during adolescence, with potential implications for education experience and performance. This paper explores the potential of applying a "narrative adoptive identity" perspective to answer questions about how adopted children and young people experience school as an "adopted" person, i.e. how does their lived experience as an adopted member of a school community impact on their engagement with school, schoolwork and peer networks? The concept of 'communicative openness' is used to illustrate the vital role the school community plays in enabling adopted children to transition into and thrive in school. Taking a narrative adoptive identity approach may enable teachers to better meet adoptees' specific learning and teaching needs as dictated by their unique experiences and enhance opportunities for better educational progress.

The present study examined genetic, prenatal, and postnatal environmental pathways in the intergenerational transmission of anxiety and depressive symptoms from parents to early adolescents (when these symptoms start to increase), while considering timing effects of exposure to parent anxiety and depressive symptoms postnatally. The sample was from the Early Growth and Development Study, including 561 adopted children (57% male, 55% White, 13% Black/African American, 11% Hispanic/Latine, 20% multiracial, 1% other; 407 provided data in early adolescence) and their birth (BP) and adoptive parents (AP). Using a trait-state-occasion model with eight assessments from child ages 9 months to 11 years, we partitioned trait-like AP anxiety and depressive symptoms from time-specific fluctuations of AP anxiety and depressive symptoms. Offspring anxiety and depressive symptoms were assessed at 11 years (while controlling for similar symptoms at 4.5 years). Results suggested that time-specific fluctuations of AP1 (mostly mothers) anxiety/depressive symptoms in infancy (9 months) were indirectly associated with offspring anxiety/depressive symptoms at 11 years via offspring anxiety/depressive symptoms at 4.5 years; time-specific fluctuations of AP1 anxiety/depressive symptoms at child age 11 years were concurrently associated with offspring anxiety/depressive symptoms at 11 years. AP2 (mostly fathers) anxiety/depressive symptoms were not associated with offspring symptoms. Genetic and prenatal influences measured by BP internalizing problems were not associated with offspring symptoms. Results suggested infancy and early adolescence as developmental periods when children are susceptible to influences of parent anxiety and depressive symptoms. Preventive interventions should consider time-specific fluctuations in parent anxiety and depressive symptoms during these developmental periods.

Currently, there is limited research that centers the voices of youth of Color and their families living and attending school in rural communities in the United States. This lack of representation is even more prominent among rural youth who identify in culturally, racially, and linguistically diverse ways and who reside and attend schools in predominantly white contexts. This qualitative case study sought to explore the experiences of parents of children who identify as youth of Color and who reside or attend school in predominantly white, rural settings. Drawing from in-depth interviews with five parents from four families, findings reveal that same-race biological parents and transracial adoptive (TRA) parents enact multiple forms of cultural capital as they navigate their communities and their children's schooling experiences within a broader culture and climate of onlyness. Additional findings indicate the critical need for culturally competent and sustaining practices in predominantly white, rural schools

Experiences of contact between adopted persons and birth family members have implications for psychological adjustment of adopted persons. The current study utilizes four contact trajectory groups, spanning from middle childhood to young adulthood and encompassing three aspects of birth family contact in predicting psychological adjustment and adoption-related outcomes in adopted young adults. Data come from a longitudinal study of adoptive families in which adopted persons were domestically adopted in infancy by same-race parents in the United States. Adopted young adults in the group characterized by sustained high levels of contact and satisfaction with contact over time ("Extended Contact") displayed lower levels of psychological distress and higher levels of psychological well-being than adopted persons in the group characterized by contact that increased over time but remained limited ("Limited Contact"). Generally, adopted persons within the group characterized by consistent lack of contact ("No Contact") and the group characterized by contact that was initially present but ended ("Stopped Contact") did not differ in distress and well-being from those in the "Extended Contact" group. No group differences were found on adoption dynamics and identity; however, young adults in the "Extended Contact" group generally reported more positive relationships with their birth mothers than those in the other groups. Findings are discussed in the context of heterogeneity in contact experiences and implications for policy and practice.

Extant literature suggests that adopted children can generate new attachment bonds with adoptive parents, although early adversity leaves an enduring mark. This research was focused on attachment representations when adoptees from Russia were reaching their adolescence. The participants were 29 adoptees and 38 children from a control group, aged between 8 and 13 years. The Friends and Family Interview, a semi-structured interview, assessed the narrative's coherence, reflective function, internal working models, and attachment classification. Children's narrative was coded into numerical data by two coders with high interrater reliability. Adopted children were classified 41% secure, 35% dismissing, 14% preoccupied, and 10% disorganized (82% secure in the control group). Children's age, gender and verbal IQ, and family structure--but not mother's academic level nor placement variables--were related to attachment variables in both groups. Although adoption offers a protective context that promotes secure attachment, insecurity and disorganization are still evident.

Purpose: Mobile learning has emerged as one of the main methods for training and academic activities in the present era. It is, also, highly relevant in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic whereupon digitization of mobile learning has made it possible for many students to continue with their education. This study investigated attitudes and intentions towards the adoption of mobile learning in vocational education. Design/methodology/approach: This is a quantitative study based on cross-sectional empirical data. In targeting vocational students throughout Pakistan, the study used a survey questionnaire with a convenience sampling method. From the responses to the questionnaire, 320 samples were used to obtain the study outcomes. Findings: The structural equation modeling's (SEM) findings reveal that learning autonomy (LA), mobile device self-efficacy (MDSE), task-technology fit (TTF), perceived ease of use (PEOU), perceived usefulness (PUS) and perceived enjoyment (PE) have a positive and significant effect on mobile usage attitudes (MUA) and intentions to adopt mobile learning (ITAML). Moreover, this study's findings confirm, also, MUA's predictive power on ITAML. Practical implications: Further, this study's findings encourage individuals to use mobile devices to properly promote knowledge in society. In addition, this study's findings support vocational institutions' operators' and policymakers' development of online education and training strategies to resist the complications arising from the transmission of COVID-19. Moreover, this study's findings open new doors when conducting similar research studies on students' perceptions and learning behaviors. Originality/value: The empirical investigation of attitudes and intentions to adopt mobile learning in the context of COVID-19 helps potential adopters to test the likely behaviors.

While race in TESOL has gained traction in recent years, less research has focused on Asian American teachers working in Asian contexts, not to mention Chinese adoptees from the US working as English teachers in Asia. Drawing from our larger study on the work narratives of Asian Americans teaching English in Taiwan, this paper examines how Chinese adoptees negotiate their linguistic and cultural competencies and identities in Taiwan. We uncover the various forms of emotional labor that they experienced. Similar to other Asian American teachers, they also grappled with notions of authenticity and legitimacy in the ELT field in Taiwan. However, teaching in Taiwan provided Chinese adoptees with the opportunity to negotiate the roots and routes of transnational adoptee identities and simultaneously deploy their adoptee identities as pedagogical tools for teaching about racial and family diversity, which complicates and extends research on racial identities as pedagogy in ELT. It is inevitable that their racial identity and transracial family makeup are invoked, and they are confronted to take action on it. The process can be laborious, yet teaching students about diversity through these adoptees' own vantage points also constitutes their professional identity as a competent teacher.

This theoretical article reflects on a recent development in adult literacy studies: transnational adoptees relearning their heritage languages. Literacy and adoption scholars have studied the replacement of the heritage language with a second language and reported it as a permanent loss. Returning to the country of origin, return adoptees challenge such notion by relearning the heritage language as part of their homecoming. We explore how this heritage language relearning could be seen as a renegotiation of the language hierarchies between the adoptive community and the community of origin of languages in the relationship between the adoptive region and the region of origin. Building on Gayatri Chakrabarty Spivak's "Enabling Violation" concept, we deploy a postcolonial perspective on understanding heritage language relearning in transnational adoptees. We discuss how language relearning can challenge and reproduce the asymmetrical relation between adoptees' position in the Global North and their first families in the Global South. We argue that heritage language relearning can open the door for adoptees to engage with transnational literacy, carving out global learning trajectories and reconnecting their adoptive and first world. The last section of this article discusses adoption organisations' dialectic response to this shift by partaking in the organisation of heritage language classes for adoptees. We argue that adult education centres and literacy educators can play a pivotal role in further institutionalising these heritage language classes for transnational adoptees.

Background: At the beginning of the 21st century, international adoptions of children with cleft lip and/or palate increased dramatically in Sweden. Many children arrived partially or totally unoperated, despite being at an age when palatoplasty has usually been performed. To date, the speech development of internationally adopted (IA) children has been described up to age 7-8 years, but later development remains unstudied. Aims: To investigate speech development between ages 5 and 10 years in children born with cleft lip and palate (CLP) adopted from China and to compare them with non-adopted (NA) children with CLP. A secondary aim was to compare the frequencies of secondary palatal surgery and number of visits to a speech and language pathologist (SLP) between the groups. Methods & Procedures: In a longitudinal study, 23 IA children from China were included and matched with 23 NA children born in Sweden. Experienced SLPs blindly reassessed audio recordings from routine follow-ups at ages 5 and 10 years. Velopharyngeal function (VPF) was assessed with the composite score for velopharyngeal competence (VPC-Sum) for single words and rated on a three-point scale (VPC-Rate) in sentence repetition. Target sounds in words and sentences were phonetically transcribed. Per cent correct consonants (PCC) were calculated at word and sentence levels. For in-depth analyses, articulation errors were divided into cleft speech characteristics (CSCs), developmental speech characteristics (DSCs) and s-errors. Information on secondary palatal surgery and number of visits to an SLP was collected. Outcomes & Results: VPF differed significantly between the groups at both ages when assessed with VPC-Sum, but not with VPC-Rate. Regardless of the method for assessing VPF, a similar proportion in both groups had incompetent VPF but fewer IA than NA children had competent VPF at both ages. IA children had lower PCC at both ages at both word and sentence levels. More IA children had CSCs, DSCs and s-errors at age 5 years, and CSCs and s-errors at age 10. The development of PCC was significant in both groups between ages 5 and 10 years. The proportion of children receiving secondary palatal surgery did not differ significantly between the groups, nor did number of SLP visits. Conclusions & Implications: CSCs were more persistent in IA children than in NA children at age 10 years. Interventions should target both cleft and DSCs, be comprehensive and continue past the pre-school years.

Longitudinal multimethod data across three time points were examined to explore the associations between previously institutionalized toddlers' (N = 71; 59% female) socioemotional skills (Time Point 1: 18 months to 3-years-old), executive functioning (i.e., attention, working memory, inhibitory control) in the preschool years (Time Point 2: 2-4-years-old), and adjustment in kindergarten (5-6-years-old). Children were from multiple regions (35% Eastern European, 31% Southeast Asian, 25% African, and 9% Latin American), and 90% of adoptive parents were White from the Midwestern United States. Socioemotional competency at Time Point 1 was associated with fewer attention problems and greater inhibitory control at Time Point 2, which were subsequently associated with more observed social competence, greater observed classroom competence, and less teacher-reported teacher-child conflict in kindergarten. Indirect effects from socioemotional competencies in toddlerhood to kindergarten adjustment via executive functioning during the preschool period emerged.

In this article, the authors analyze four picturebooks about adoption that highlight these experiences of liminality. Children who have been adopted may feel torn between two families and cultures. Children who are adopted must make sense of their lives and identities, residing in a state of in-between-ness. Adoption presents a time of displacement and a crossing over into something new. Critical adoption studies shifts the focus from the family formed through adoption to acknowledging the possible hardship and inequitable conditions the birthparents may experience through a trauma-informed approach. At the heart of critical adoption studies is an interrogation of the ways in which matters such as reproductive justice, choice, poverty, race, capitalism, white supremacy, and colonialism all intersect to construct the complexity of adoption in which some are privileged and others marginalized. Another way critical adoption studies highlights injustice is by considering how adoption is operationalized to privilege white, heterosexual, cisgender couples who are often American and financially secure. One aspect of critical adoption studies that is especially important to consider in our study relates to the notion of kinship. The notion of kinship as a normative model of family is disrupted as an adopted child is introduced to a family, particularly when the adopted child is a different race than the adoptive parents, and thus subject to racism that the adoptive parents will not experience in the same way. At the same time, as the notion of kinship and biological belonging is disrupted, the "ideal family" is upheld, and notions of what this entails are reproduced (e.g., middle-class, Western ideals).

Genetic studies show that children's reading achievement is in part genetically influenced, and intervention studies show that reading achievement can be increased by environmental interventions. However, correlational and mean-level analytic strategies are rarely integrated into achievement research, potentially leading to misinterpretation of results. The parent-offspring adoption design offers a novel opportunity to examine the independent and joint roles of genetic and rearing environmental contributions. The sample included 344 adopted children in first grade and their biological and adoptive parents. Results indicated that adoptees' reading scores were correlated with their biological parents' scores, but not with their adoptive parents' scores, suggesting genetic influences. In addition, examination of mean scores indicated that adoptees' scores were significantly greater than their biological parents' (p's < 0.001) for all subtests, suggesting promotive effects of the rearing environment. This pattern was present even when biological parents scored >1 standard deviation below the biological parent mean on achievement.

The thrifty phenotype and fetal overnutrition hypotheses are two developmental hypotheses that originated from the "developmental origins of health and disease" (DOHaD) perspective. The DOHaD posits that exposures experienced prenatally and early in life may influence health outcomes through altering form and function of internal organs related to metabolic processes. Obesity risk and early pubertal timing might be influenced by similar mechanisms. The thrifty phenotype hypothesis is primarily characterized by experiencing a deprivation of nutrients during gestation paired with an energy rich postnatal environment. The fetal overnutrition hypothesis says that obesity experienced prenatally will be associated with increased lifetime risk of obesity in the offspring. Both hypotheses were tested by examining developmental pathways from genetic and prenatal risk through early growth trajectories (birth to 7 years) to pubertal timing at age 11 years. Participants included 361 children adopted at birth (57% male; 57% non-Hispanic White, 11% Black, 9% Hispanic; adoptive family income Mdn = $70,000-$100,000, birth family income Mdn = <$15,000). Associations between boys' childhood body mass index (BMI) and pubertal timing were confounded by genetics, prenatal risk, and early growth. The thrifty phenotype hypothesis was partially supported for boys' childhood BMI (at ages 4 to 7 years). Both hypotheses were partially supported for girls' childhood BMI but not pubertal timing. A novel Gene x Prenatal Risk interaction showed that genetic risk predicted girls' childhood BMI most strongly at adequate compared with at excessive levels of gestational weight gain.

Bullying and cyberbullying have rarely been studied among the adoptive population, although the few studies available show adopted students frequently experience these phenomena. To address this research gap, this article examined potential differences in bullying and cyberbullying between domestic adoptees, intercountry adoptees, and nonadopted students, paying separate attention to frequent and occasional victimization and perpetration experiences. In addition, the aims of the article include analyzing student--teacher connectedness in these groups and exploring its potential protective role for the aforementioned bullying and cyberbullying experiences. The sample consists of 541 adopted adolescents (67.1% intercountry adoptees and 32.9% domestic adoptees) and 582 nonadopted adolescents aged 11-18 years who had participated in the 2017/2018 edition of the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study in Spain. Results show that the likelihood of involvement in bullying and cyberbullying (either victimization or perpetration) was lower for the nonadopted group, whereas domestic adoptees were significantly more likely to report these experiences. Furthermore, student--teacher connectedness was lower among domestic adoptees compared to their nonadopted peers. Finally, teacher connectedness was consistently associated with a lower likelihood of frequent bullying and cyberbullying victimization, and of both occasional and frequent cyberbullying perpetration. Overall, our findings are consistent with an increased risk of bullying and cyberbullying among domestic adoptees and a predominantly consistent protective role of student-teacher connectedness, although differences depending on the specific kind of experience deserve further examination in future research.

Children experience grief and loss from death, divorce, parental incarceration, and similar situations of being placed in foster care or adoption. These youths may be challenged in recovery due to lacking the necessary life experience and coping skills. They may also lack the appropriate support networks to work through their grief as their remaining parent or family members may be too grieved to be of assistance. Peers, can even distance themselves out of inability to understand the experience. Children are at risk for developing psychological difficulties that can manifest into psychiatric disorders when lacking coping skills. Therefore, it is critical for parents, teachers, pastors, and other influential adults to recognize the risk factors associated with complicated or unresolved grief. It is also important to remember the child's developmental age and stage when considering how to help. Some therapy techniques have been found helpful such as motivational interviewing, therapy that also includes a parent or guardian, group therapy, and grief support groups. It is necessary for adults to develop open and honest lines of communication with the child, ensuring that he feels safe expressing how he feels. Lastly, helping in grief and loss can cause secondary trauma. Self-care is vital for anyone helping work the grieving process.

There is a need of additional research into the social aspects of adoptees' school experiences. For that purpose, the present study used a sample of adopted (n = 541) and non-adopted (n = 582) adolescents from the Health Behavior in School-aged Children (HBSC) study in Spain. Specifically, we analyzed social support at school (from classmates and teachers), explored adjustment differences between domestic adoptees, intercountry adoptees, and non-adopted adolescents, and examined whether adoption status and adjustment problems explain potential differences in support from teachers and from classmates. Results showed more difficulties in domestic adoptees than in the other two groups. Furthermore, differences were found in the role of adoption status and adjustment problems in classmate and teacher support: once conduct problems were taken into account, the association between adoption status and classmate support became non-significant. In contrast, both conduct problems and adoption status were significant factors associated with lower teacher support.

Transgressive pedagogical methods such as those advanced by Freire, Giroux, hooks, Kincheloe, McClaren, and others are enlisted to train honors students to assist organizational entities in the pet adoption sector, with the eventual goal of achieving the ideal of adoption, securing a "forever home." Three self-assigned groups of honors students (six students each) were tasked with contacting pet adoption entities and--based on class readings, lectures, and discussion--offering assistance in improving contact episodes between adopters and adoptees. Students were asked to pre-analyze impending interactions with target entities according to Hymes's SPEAKING template; to engage contact; and to report to the class afterward. One group achieved linkage but had to fundraise rather than act as consultants for pet-human interaction. The other two groups failed to achieve contact, instead performing in-class dramatizations of how their interactions went and how they should have gone had Hymes's communication episode ideals been realized. Relying on discourse analysis, class readings, discussion with students, and past experience, the instructor examined the class from the viewpoint of transgressive pedagogy, creating a five-level model to bring together various influences on the transgressive mode (the THERE model): "T"eacher as Outlaw, "H"onors Courses Fit; "E"xpand Problem Space; "R"eveal ZOPED; and "E"ngage Real World. Based on a review of instructor and student experience via the THERE model, suggestions are offered to engage honors students in transgressive learning approaches for the benefit of society and for finding in honors curricula a "forever home."

The intention of this study is to investigate the transparency of information on university websites regarding the policies in place related to leave and/or tenure clock extensions for child-related events such as childbirth, adoption, or placement of a foster child. The main purpose is to improve awareness about the policies existing in academia related to these events. The secondary purpose is to determine whether major institutional characteristics affect the family-friendly policies of these institutions. Nearly 80% of the institutions studied communicated some type of information on their website related to tenure clock extension policies. An analysis of the data from these colleges/universities is provided so that other institutions who are developing or reviewing their own policies are aware of the typical policies provided by other institutions. The study found significant differences in policy availability and attributes based on major institutional characteristics.

This reflective, autoethnographic qualitative case study at focus in this article is based on broader research on the experiences of Black teachers working at predominantly white and affluent private schools in the United States. It was motivated by the author/researcher's own experiences of personal, academic, and professional racial identity development as a student, educator, parent, and educational administrator while living and working in predominantly white and affluent communities. The two main research questions this study engaged were: (1) How did the author/researcher develop her Black identity as a transracial adoptee living at the intersection of race and class; and, (2) What was the author/researcher's journey towards her present state of racial self-acceptance and understanding? Three ancillary research questions were also engaged: (a) How did social and societal factors influence the author/researcher's racial identity development? (b) How did the author/researcher build a support network of personal and professional community? and, (c) How was the author/researcher able to get to a place of self-love? Using Hill Collins' (1998) intersectional analysis framework and Cross's (1991) theory of Black racial identity development, this article explores the author/researcher's experiences as an affluent racialized minority by unpacking lived experiences, coping strategies, and support mechanisms that led to her current professional calling.

Fyodor Dostoyevsky wrote masterpieces describing the exploitation and victimisation of the socially disadvantaged who were affected by industrialisation in the 19th century. In "The Brothers Karamazov," Pavel Fyodorovich Smerdyakov (hereafter, Smerdyakov) plays a critical role in various spheres of the story. His birth was the result of the rape of Lizaveta Smerdyastchaya by Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov (hereafter, Fyodor). Tragically, Lizaveta died immediately after the delivery. Grigory and Marfa, Fyodor's serfs, adopted Smerdyakov, who then also grew up as a serf. Eventually, Smerdyakov murders Fyodor, and accordingly, this destined act turned Smerdyakov into a hybrid of goodness and evilness, being described by the narrator as 'a contemplative', which makes the story quite complicated and tragic. Despite his complexities, Smerdyakov remains one of the least-discussed characters in the studies hitherto. Hence, this paper has two aims, the first of which is the discussion of the meaning of the early life of Smerdyakov by revealing a tragic tension within him. It will also discuss education for a contemplative like Smerdyakov from the perspectives of polyphony as advocated by Bakhtin -- as it is important to view the contemplative as an indispensable protagonist and understand them through listening.

In terms of data, young people who have been adopted are an invisible population in Northern Ireland schools. With increasing knowledge of the impact of being an adoptee and adverse childhood experiences, and greater understanding of the importance of attachment, more research into the school experience of adopted young people is necessary. This study aimed to capture the perspective of adoptees aged 16-21 years on the impact of being an adoptee and their experience of mainstream school in Northern Ireland. Data was collected through one-to-one, face-to-face interviews with nine participants. Interviews were recorded, transcribed and analysed thematically using NVivo. The findings were in keeping with the main themes identified in a review of international literature exploring the experience of adopted children in school. While every participant's experience was unique, common challenges in school, as a result of the impact of their early life experiences, could be identified. How teachers responded to the needs of the participants was a key determinant in their overall experience of school. The study revealed that not every member of staff or school provided the support and understanding that was needed and this had a detrimental impact on the participant's emotional well-being and their ability to thrive. However, when the staff and culture of the school was informed, empathetic and supportive, participants overcame challenges and experienced success.

Previous studies have found correlations between parent input and child language outcomes, providing prima facie evidence for a causal relation. However, this could also reflect the effects of shared genes. The present study removed this genetic confound by measuring English vocabulary growth in 29 preschool-aged children (21 girls) aged 31-73 months and 17 infants (all girls) aged 15-32 months adopted from China and Eastern Europe and comparing it to speech produced by their adoptive mothers. Vocabulary growth in both groups was correlated with maternal input features; in infants with mean-length of maternal utterance, and in preschoolers with both mean-length of utterance and lexical diversity. Thus, input effects on language outcomes persist even in the absence of genetic confounds.

Many children who enter the care system and are subsequently adopted have had exposure to a range of potentially traumatising experiences including domestic violence, abuse, neglect and loss of key caregivers. There are also an increasingly high number of adopted children presenting with the impact of intrauterine exposure to alcohol, drugs and stress. They are often adopted by adults with their own experiences of loss and fertility difficulties. Despite the low overall level of adoption disruption, it is becoming clear that some adoptive parents may face difficulties in terms of forming and maintaining secure attachments across time with their children. A 9-week therapeutic group intervention was delivered to a group of 15 adoptive parents in Northern Ireland. This incorporated psychoeducation on a range of topics including attachment theory, trauma and the impact on brain development. It also incorporated theory and practical strategies for parenting therapeutically with traumatised children, and those with foetal alcohol and drug-related difficulties. The main focus of the group was on developing the capacity for mind-mindedness in the parents, through the more reflective focus of the second half of each group. The results from the evaluation indicated the positive impact of this intervention on parents' understanding of their children, increased confidence in parenting, and increased sense of competence in coping with challenging behaviour. It also indicated a positive change in the children's behaviour and in the parent-child relationships.

Intellectual performance is highly heritable and robustly predicts lifelong health and success but the earliest manifestations of genetic effects on this asset are not well understood. This study examined whether early executive function (EF) or verbal performance mediate genetic influences on subsequent intellectual performance, in 561 U.S.-based adoptees (57% male) and their birth and adoptive parents (70% and 92% White, 13% and 4% African American, 7% and 2% Latinx, respectively), administered measures in 2003-2017. Genetic influences on children's academic performance at 7 years were mediated by verbal performance at 4.5 years ([beta] = 0.22, 95% CI [0.08, 0.35], p = 0.002) and not via EF, indicating that verbal performance is an early manifestation of genetic propensity for intellectual performance.

Melanie McCormick and Alycia West implore educators to engage in thoughtful conversations about transnational adoption in "Seen but not Seen: Supporting Transracial and Transnational Adoptees in the Classroom." The authors draw on their stories of growing up as transracial and transnational adoptees as well as their research on children's literature on adoption to provide instructional guidelines and resources for teachers to teach about transnational adoption.

In this paper a context where receptive multilingualism represents a communicative strategy of adjustment in a context of second language acquisition is discussed. The traditional scope of receptive multilingualism has been extended to multilingual environments resulting from an experience of mobility, namely transnational adoptive families. Similar to other contexts of receptive multilingualism, this scenario involves asymmetrical language competences, but in this case language contact evolves quite rapidly in the acquisition of one of the languages involved. By means of 29 h of interactional data and discourse analyses, we investigated the family communication of three Italian families, one of them adopting in Russia and two of them in Chile. Unlikely for a lexically and structurally more distant language (Russian), in a framework of intelligible languages (Spanish-Italian), the adoption of receptive multilingualism leads adopted children to rely on a longer 'receptive stage'.

Family systems research has identified two key processes (spillover and compensatory), linking interparental relationship quality to the parent-child relationship. However, previous research has focused on the parent as the sole initiator and had not often considered the role of the child in these processes. The present study adds to the literature by leveraging a genetically informed design to examine possible child evocative effects on spillover and compensatory processes. Participants were from a longitudinal parent-offspring adoption sample of 361 linked sets of adoptive parents of an adopted child (57% male), and the child's birth parents. Adoptive parents reported on child pleasure and anger at 18 months and the interparental relationship at 27 months. Parent-child interactions were observed at child age 6 years, and heritable influences were assessed via birth mother self-report at 5 months. Our results indicated a dampening effect where higher interparental warmth at child age 27 months was associated with less adoptive mother-child coercion at child age 6 years, and a compensatory effect where higher interparental conflict was associated with more adoptive father-child positive engagement. Moreover, our results indicated child-driven effects via both genetic and environmental pathways. Specifically, higher levels of birth mother negative affect (heritable characteristic) were associated with lower levels of adoptive father-child coercion. Also, child anger was positively associated with interparental conflict, and child pleasure was positively associated with interparental warmth. These findings support findings from the family literature with evidence of compensatory mechanisms, while also highlighting the active role children play in shaping family interactions.

Individual differences in music traits are heritable and correlated with the development of cognitive and communication skills, but little is known about whether diverse modes of music engagement (e.g., playing instruments vs. singing) reflect similar underlying genetic/environmental influences. Moreover, the biological etiology underlying the relationship between musicality and childhood language development is poorly understood. Here we explored genetic and environmental associations between music engagement and verbal ability in the Colorado Adoption/Twin Study of Lifespan behavioral development & cognitive aging (CATSLife). Adolescents (N = 1,684) completed measures of music engagement and intelligence at approximately age 12 and/or multiple tests of verbal ability at age 16. Structural equation models revealed that instrument engagement was highly heritable (a[superscript 2] = 0.78), with moderate heritability of singing (a[superscript 2] = 0.43) and dance engagement (a[superscript 2] = 0.66). Adolescent self-reported instrument engagement (but not singing or dance engagement) was genetically correlated with age 12 verbal intelligence and still was associated with age 16 verbal ability, even when controlling for age 12 full-scale intelligence, providing evidence for a longitudinal relationship between music engagement and language beyond shared general cognitive processes. Together, these novel findings suggest that shared genetic influences in part accounts for phenotypic associations between music engagement and language, but there may also be some (weak) direct benefits of music engagement on later language abilities.

Parents adopting traumatized children from foster care or from other settings have unique needs for post adoption support. This paper seeks to present those needs from the unique viewpoint of an adoptive physician mother. Circles of care around the child include the family, the community and wider systems of support.

The program known as Trust Based Relational Intervention® (TBRI®) began as an exploration into the detrimental behaviors of foster and adopted children placed in homes with unsuspecting caregivers who assumed their living environment would result in positive results rather than fear based emotions and behaviors. The researchers at the Karyn Purvis Institute of Child Development (KPICD) at Texas Christian University held summer camps for adopted children and through that work developed an intervention to meet the needs of children who had experienced trauma. KPICD identifies these young people as "children from hard places" (Purvis & Cross, 2005). Copeland et al (2007) reported that an estimated 68% of children in the United States have experienced some sort of trauma. This astounding statistic holds great meaning for teachers and administrators, because these children from hard places routinely manifest aggressive and undesired behaviors due to an altering of their physiology. The literature on TBRI® at this point mostly has chronicled success with families, group homes and summer camps (McKenzie, Purvis, & Cross, 2014; Howard, Parris, Neilson, Lusk, Bush, Purvis & Cross, 2014; Purvis & Cross, 2006). TBRI® has only recently been implemented in school settings. This report provides an overview of the impacts of trauma, trauma related work in schools, and the four articles published to this point related to the use of TBRI® in schools.

When parents bring forth children, they perceive and act on their upbringing. However, some children live with and are brought up by non-biological parents. The phenomenon of children living with non-biological parents has been a long standing practice in most societies, yet little comparative research interest had been shown to examine the involvement of real and pseudo parents in children's education. The study sought to fill the lacuna by examining differential family social capital investment in children's education. Cross-sectional survey was utilised to study children from three geographical settings and data was gathered from administration of survey instrument. Statistical Product and Service Solutions (SPSS), version 20, was used to analyse the data. Several findings emerged from the study. Firstly, the study unveiled moderate manifestation of social capital in the families of the study subjects. Secondly, there was a relatively high rate of pseudo parenting, which means that a good percent of the children were not living with their real parents. Thirdly, the results revealed that pseudo parents did not commit much time and energy into their wards' education as much as the real or biological parents did for their children. Fourthly, parents residing in urban centres tended to socially invest more in their children's education as opposed to their counterparts in the other communities. Consequently, parents, irrespective of their status and community of residence, are urged to demonstrate much interest and participate in their children's education.

This study offers a critical content analysis of thirty-six contemporary realistic picturebooks featuring transracial Chinese adoption. The theoretical framework of critical literacy highlights significant sociocultural implications of these portrayals: in particular, negative stereotypes and ideologies, in an attempt to call for inclusivity and respect. Though these adoption tales provide an opportunity for Chinese adoptees to explore sociocultural identities and for other young readers to perceive the world of adoption-created families from a different perspective, negative depictions of certain aspects suggest that transracial Chinese adoption narratives are highly contested in terms of how Chinese adoptees are viewed and what family configurations are valued. The stories sometimes omit or simplify the complexities and nuances involved in the practice, the voices of birth parents and adoptees are noticeably absent, and certain ideologies prevail in some adoptive narratives. The complex picture of what transnational adoption looks like and means for those involved needs to be more critically explored and extended by children's literature researchers as unveiling discourses on belonging and exclusion are informed by values that will be passed on to the new generation.

Understanding the role of negative emotionality in the development of executive functioning (EF) and language skills can help identify developmental windows that may provide promising opportunities for intervention. In addition, because EF and language skills are, in part, genetically influenced, intergenerational transmission patterns are important to consider. The prospective parent-offspring adoption design used in this study provides a unique opportunity to examine the intergenerational transmission of EF and language skills. Participants were 561 children adopted around the time of birth. Accounting for birth mother EF and language contributions, we examined the role of child negative emotionality in toddlerhood (age 9 to 27 months) and childhood (age 4.5 to 7 years) on child EF and language skills in first grade (age 7 years). There was continuity in EF from age 27 months to 7 years, and in language ability from age 27 months to 7 years, with no cross-lagged effects between child EF and language ability. Negative emotionality at age 9 months predicted lower EF and lower language abilities at age 7 years, and growth in negative emotionality from age 4.5 to 7 years predicted lower child EF at age 7 years. Overall, findings suggested that lower negative emotionality at age 9 months was associated with higher toddler and child EF and language skills and that preventing growth in negative emotionality from age 4.5 to 7 years may lead to improvements in child EF.

Pierce "et al." (2017) have proposed that variations in the timing, quality and quantity of language input during the earliest stages of development are related to variations in the development of phonological working memory and, in turn, to later language learning outcomes. To examine this hypothesis, three groups of children who are at-risk for language learning were examined: children with cochlear implants (CI), children with developmental language disorder (DLD), and internationally-adopted (IA) children, Comparison groups of typically-developing monolingual (MON) children and second language (L2) learners were also included. All groups were acquiring French as a first or second language and were matched on age, gender, and socioeconomic status, as well as other group-specific factors; they were between 5;0-7;3 years of age at time of testing. The CI and DLD groups scored significantly more poorly on the memory measures than the other groups; while the IA and L2 groups did not differ from one another. While the IA group performed more poorly than the MON group, there was no difference between the L2 and MON groups. We also found differential developmental relationships between phonological memory and language among the groups of interest in comparison to the typically-developing MON and L2 groups supporting the hypothesis that language experiences early in life are consequential for language development because of their effects on the development of phonological memory.

This paper explores societal perceptions of a child's disability and bilingualism through the author's observations and reflections. Drawing from the observations of the child in different public schools in the United States, the author shares how the child has been viewed differently and similarly by school personnel. By reflecting on different perceptions of the bilingual child with a disability label, the author promotes least restrictive attitudes toward "all" in schools and society. [Note: Issue number displayed on the PDF (n1) is incorrect. This article was published in v13 n2.]