When Adoption Becomes a Complication: First Evidence Regarding the Discrimination Suffered by Young Adopt- ees in Italy Due to Phenotypic Differences and/or because of their Adoptive Identity

Between 2001 (ratification of the Hague Convention, L.149/2001) and 2017, 49,460 children were adopted in Italy through international adoption (IA). For many years Italy has been the first European country in terms of numbers of IA, and the second in the world, after the US. In the same years (2001- 2016) 13,628 national adoptions (NA) were completed in Italy. The study analyzes, also in terms of gender, the discrimination suffered by Italian young adoptees, both regarding their phenotypic differences and their adoptive identity, with the aim of studying the identity strategies they implement in the process of "integration" into the Italian society. Method: 20 interviews (CAPI) will be carried out to national and international adoptees (age 16-24), to collect elements useful to describe the phenomenon. At the same time a quantitative survey (CAWI) will involve adoptive families (non-representative sample) who adopted between 2001 and 2018 to gauge the phenomenon from their point of view. Outcomes: The study will return a photograph of how young adoptees manage their hybrid identity when facing episodes of open racism or more latent but equally pervasive episodes of micro-discrimination. Furthermore, the study will trace if and how adoptive families might be changing their perception of the racist or discriminatory risk affecting their children with attention to their transition in adulthood.