Amanda Wilson Contract-CTA-P
Field of audience: C,E,P

Language: English
Level of audience: All

The identity we develop as we move through latter stages of Levin’s Cycle of Development (Levin, 1998) can have a profound impact our sense of belonging to the communities we become part of in adulthood. This sense identity can also become obscured, if the ethnicity of our main caregivers in childhood differs from the ethnicity of our biological family. Such is the case for many Black and Asian children who have been fostered or adopted by white parents, especially those who grew up in the 60s and 70s where the topics of culture and ethnicity were not high on the agenda.

How do you reconcile who you are with who society says you should be because of the colour of your skin? How do you develop a sense of belonging to the community of your parent’s birth? Can you ever truly become part of something you have no real knowledge or experience of?

Drawing on her own experiences of being a Black child fostered by white parents and the 2024 Bafta winning documentary, White Nanny Black Child, the author (edit by WTAC) explores how identity is developed and belonging found if you have a sense of always feeling like an outsider.

The author (edit by WTAC) explores this topic having spoken to many who, like her grew up in the foster-care system in the United Kingdom in the 70s and 80s and who are only now understanding and accepting who they are as individuals.