Transnational adoptees’ sense of belonging and the role of sport

This study explores the development of transnational adoptees’ sense of belonging and the role that sport may play in this process. Transnational adoption is the process by which parents in one country adopt a child born in another. As a result, transnational adoptees’ identities are represented as multifaceted, evolving over time through continual negotiations of belonging. The development of transnational adoptees’ identities and sense of belonging is complex and dynamic, but this journey was found to be aided by the knowledge, understanding, and support they receive through their connections with various communities. It is here that sport offers an environment where individuals were able to join, make, accrue, and reinforce essential social networks and create a sense of community, identity, and belonging. Guided by Putnam’s conceptualization of social capital, the study uses bibliographic-narrative inquiry to examine the role of sport in fostering and developing transnational adoptees’ sense of belonging. This study brings two separate areas of literature into conversation to better understand how to support transnational adoptees’ sense of belonging.