Over the past 20 years, transracial adoption has become a hugely contentious issue, falling prey to the often ill-considered attitudes of the local authorities whose views and fervour on same-race placement seem top have become blanketed by a mass of political correctness.

Sometimes these views lead to actions that defy logic and - more importantly - aren't necessarily in the best interests of the child concerned.

I find it difficult to remain complacent when there is so much misinformation, even disinformation about trans-racial adoption and the issues surrounding it.

One of the reasons why I campaign so tirelessly for transracial adoption is because I was trans-racially adopted myself - very successfully and happily.

I am one of nine children. My parents had five children of their own and adopted four children intermittently.

We were all brought up with a strong sense of self-belief, self confidence and, as a result, we all have a strong sense of our own individual identities, regardless of colour, creed or gender.

We've all been brought up in an enivironment of mutual, reciprocal and unconditional love. We are each other's rock.

Even at the age of 35, at least three times a week I'll be filled with pride, gratitude, relief-love when I think about my family and how lucky I was to find them; how rich my life is because of them; how their immense love has given me the confidence to be who I want to be.

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But apparently, I am in denial, I have no sense of self because my cultural identity has been incidiously robbed by my malevolent white adopted parents whose only intention was "to 'whiten me up' to make me more acceptable to society, no better than missionaries, in fact". (This was actually said to me by a counsellor from the Post Adoption Centre, who had very strong views about transracial adoption.)

If I were put up for adoption now, my chances of being placed in my family would be virtually nil. They would be deemed unsuitable and inadequate for not being able to reflect my ethnic background.

The importance of my learning about Afro hair-care or Nigerian cuisine would be held in far higher esteem than whether I was going to be adopted into a family who would love me, regardless of their colour.

In a country that has, in my opinion, quite a high degree of successful multi-culturalism and a level of racial integration that far exceeds anywhere else in Europe, the insistence on same-race placements seems inappropriate, almost quite regressive.

Ultimately, if the choice was either knowing all about Afro hair care, finding out about it in various foster homes, or being placed with a family that won't teach me about hair care, but will love me and support me and instil their faith in me for the rest of my life, I know what I'd go for any day.

Clare Gorman is a TV presenter and journalist and a patron of the Adoption Forum. This article first appeared in the latest Adoption Forum newsletter.

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