Transracial / Transcultural Adoption

You may recall that, last October, a Louisiana judge said that he wasn't racist, but he won't marry different-race couples. In response, Suzy Richardson wanted to show this man how wrong he was. She encouraged mixed-race families to send in pictures showing how happy they are. That effort turned into the group Mixed and Happy. First, the group's main entry point was a Facebook page. Now, Mixed and Happy has over 6,000 Facebook fans. The group's web site includes forums and groups. There has been a great deal of interest in having face-to-face regional meeting groups, so that's the next feature in the works. Mixed and Happy is a wonderful example of… [more]

It's time to go back to school! A teacher friend of mine was asking for input on her classroom decorations - a, A to Z list of famous people whom every middle schooler should know. Many friends, including my husband, made their own A to Z lists. I decided that this blog needed one. So, without further ado, here is the list of 26 Americans of Color Whom Every Schoolchild Should Know

• Maya Angelou - African American autobiographer and poet
• Joan Baez - Mexican American folk singer, songwriter, and activist
• César Chavéz - Mexican American farm worker, labor leader, civil rights activist, and co-founder of the National Farm Workers Association (now the UFW)
• Frederick Douglass

In my last post, I discussed some of the interesting questions we were asked on the questionnaire we were given by our facilitator. The last section of the questionnaire is titled "Knowledge". I knew some of the answers, but not nearly all. In this blog post, I learn more and share with you. Thanks to my series during Black History Month 2010, I can name "a few" African American scientists. In addition to Vivien Thomas, Mae Jamison, and Dr. Ben Carson, you might want to check out these folks:

• Daniel Hale Williams, often credited as the first person to perform a successful heart surgery.
• Patricia E. Bath, the first African American

The last time I posted here (which was woefully long ago, I'm sorry), I wrote about the questionnaire that our facilitator asks us to complete. The questionnaire is about race, especially as it relates to transracial adoption. I wrote about some of the issues I had with the questions and their multiple choices. I stand by those, but there are also a lot of interesting questions to think about. Some of the questions are ones that prospective adoptive parents should be asking themselves, but maybe don't know they should:

• How will you respond if people stare at your child?
• When did you tell others that you were/are planning to adopt a child of another race?
• Do you hesitate to tell others that

I may have mentioned that my husband and I are at the beginning of our second adoption journey. We're in the home study phase. We've decided to sign with a facilitator that specializes in adoptions of children of color. Part of their process includes a questionnaire about race, especially as it relates to transracial adoption. The questionnaire is multiple choice. I'm not a big fan of multiple choice for attitude and experience questions. Most of the time, their choices aren't my choices. For example... ~ How would you feel if your child announced to the room that you couldn't have kids so you adopted them? My answer doesn't exist: "Actually, technically I could have children, but I thought adoption was the best!" But I… [more]

Today's post isn't really about adoption at all. It is, however, a post about a substance that shows up on transracial adoption forums: sunscreen. Parents want to know which sunscreens won't turn their kids white. They want to know what sunscreens won't dry out or otherwise damage sensitive skin. Somehow I doubt that most parents know that most sunscreens are: a) toxic, b) don't work, or c) both. The Environmental Working Group (EWG) released its 2010 Sunscreen Guide recently. They recommend only 39 out of 500 sunscreen products. They found that companies exaggerated their claims in terms of sun protection, and that some ingredients have been found to be "potentially hazardous". People believe that by buying sunscreens with high SPF (sun protection factor)… [more]

I keep coming back to the seminar about teaching young children about race and color. I've already written three posts about it, so what more could I possibly have to say? Not only do I have this post, but there is one more - one that is sure to be controversial. In my first post about the seminar, I mentioned that some friends of mine were there. One of them is an outspoken guy, and I loved what he had to say: Somebody is going to shape your kid's attitude about race. Shouldn't that be you? Whether you call it race or color, the fact is, there are a lot of different people in this world. It is up… [more]

I keep thinking that I've at least looked at all the major and/or relevant adoption blogs out there. Then, I find one I didn't know existed. Apparently, everyone else has known about John Raible for years, decades even. I found him about three weeks ago. He wrote a blunt post providing a Crash Course In Transracial Parenting. Blunt is really a very good word for Dr. Raible. He doesn't like to be called angry, which I suppose I can understand. He doesn't pull any punches, though, so I imagine he has a fair share of people who simply don't like his tone. Dr. Raible is a transracial adoptee and has been featured in two documentaries about adoption, Struggle for… [more]

During my freshman year of college, one of my roommates was Black. One night, she decided to come with my friends and me to dinner. (For the record, the friends were Filipino, Chinese, Japanese, Swedish, and Czech.) As we were walking to their part of the dorm, my roommate said, out of nowhere, "You didn't know many black people did you?" "No. Why?" I replied. "It just shows.", she answered cryptically. Growing up, my best friend was Filipino. She was very dark skinned. One day, we were riding bikes. We got separated for awhile, but I found her. When I caught up with her, I said, "I just saw this -" and then I realized I was about to say "brown face". I… [more]

I was going to avoid the topic of Sandra Bullock adopting a Black infant. I really was. I'm not one of those people who has to comment on everything. But then, many of the other bloggers I read started in on it, and ... well, I suppose this time, I'm just a sheep. (Baa!) One of the disadvantages of being a famous actress is that every person has the ability to observe and comment on your life. Writers, whether for international publications or mom-and-pop blogs, feel that they have the right, maybe even the duty, to publicly comment on your life and post their opinions about it, sometimes as if those opinions were facts. Then, everyday people with Internet connections feel that… [more]