ABSTRACT
As public discourse about transracial adoption emerged in 1993 and 1994 following the introduction of the first of several legislative proposals, a wave of television talk shows, made-for-television movies, and cinematic films began appearing in the spring of 1994 about adoption, foster care, and the relative “fitness” or otherwise of poor and middle-class mothers. However, Losing Isaiah was the only feature film of which the author is aware specifically concerned with transracial adoption. In popular contemporary narratives surrounding the issues of transracial adoption and welfare reform, Black women are represented as drug addicted and poor, and thus “fit” as breeders but “unfit” as mothers. In Murray’s editorial on welfare reform and adoption he also provided an option for “unadoptable” children: orphanages. Thus, in this social vision, children whose proper socialization cannot be ensured should be warehoused in public institutions.
