This study aims to qualitatively examine the experiences and monetary relationship between white American parents who adopted children from China between the years 1990 and 2015, and the system of adoption in the United States with China. Previous research provides background on how the Chinese government constructed its international adoption system after the one-child policy and how the United States participated. Additionally, current research highlights how transnational adoption and the one-child policy impact adoptees and birth families. Governments have generated a profitable market from adoptions, labeled the Transnational Industrial Adoption Complex (McKee, 2016). Chinese adoptees are brought to the United States with preconceived notions of their racial and ethnic identities, rooted in anti-Blackness, and stereotypes such as the model minority myth are placed onto adoptees. Birth families are left fractured, as their culture and their government clash ideologically. Yet, there is a gap in the literature when examining adoptive parents' experiences, despite their large role in the Transnational Adoption Industrial Complex. This research consists of a short survey followed by a 45-minute interview with adoptive parents from the United States who adopted Chinese children during the one-child policy era. The survey is used to obtain demographic information and to ensure participants meet the sampling requirements. The interview provides a more in-depth recollection of individuals' experiences adopting from China. Interviews are automatically transcribed and recorded through AI, then corrected by hand and coded under a reflective thematic analysis lens. Findings include parents being sufficiently financially educated throughout the process, but a lack of cultural awareness or support from their agencies. Emotional reflections vary widely, from extremely grateful to deciding never to adopt or recommend adoption again. This research is ideally used to inform future work, focusing on how to reform the adoption experience for all parties, including adoptive parents.
