Dr Tam Cane is the creator of the AFDiT framework to support transracial adoption

As part of Black History Month 2024, the School of Education and Social Work is delighted to showcase the work of our esteemed colleague, Dr Tam Cane, Senior Lecturer in Social Work & Social Care, on transracial adoption research.

Tam's outstanding contributions in this area have yielded invaluable tools and resources to amplify the voices of transracially adopted individuals and provide crucial insights for social workers, foster carers and adoptees alike.

Tam's research has been vital for shifting adoption narratives away from race trauma, which is often associated with challenges in integrating racial, ethnic and cultural identities in transracial adoption. Funded by the British Academy and Adoption England, her AFDiT Framework has produced high impact in adoption and fostering practice by outlining essential principles and best practices for social workers to emply when working with transracial adoptive families and racialised and minoritised ethnic children. 

Key Resources:

• Transracial Adoptee Voices: Narratives and Lessons Learned
• Religion and Transracial Adoption: Impacts on Identity Formation
• Cultivating Connection across Difference in Transracial Adoption Need
• Racial Trauma and Microaggressions in Transracial Adoption
• Framework for Decision-making in Transracial Adoption (AFDiT Framework)

Explore the Transracial Adoption Framework

Explore Adoption England's transracial adoption training resources

See also details of the origins of Black History Month and this year's theme, along with celebratory events taking place in and around Brighton.