In my previous post I started discussing the "transracial adoption roadblock" of racial issues. These are probably the biggest and most complex issues surrounding transracial adoption, and are not ones that can be wrapped up neatly with a bow.

A fear that I have heard expressed by many prospective adoptive parents is their worry that they can do a good job raising a child of another race. A lot of times parents start off confident that they can do just... more

You have considered the financial challenges, the emotional challenges and the difficulty of the adoption process itself. You have addressed concerns regarding the physical health and the emotional health of your future child. You have gotten past the “reluctant... more

So, do you think you are racist?? Do you think you have any conscious or subconscious racial preferences or attitudes? I know what you are saying… “But Erin, I have adopted a child from (fill in the blank) and I am reading your transracial adoption blog… of course I am not racist.”

Today, CNN has the “racial bias quiz” available on their website. The “Implicit Association Test”, from Harvard University tests our conscious and subconscious thoughts regarding race.

Here is a description…

It is well known that people don't always 'speak their minds', and it is suspected that people don't always 'know... more

There has been a lot of “debate” about how “right’ or “wrong” it is for Americans to adopt African orphans in the media lately…brought on no doubt by the Material Girl herself.

I wanted to give my thoughts on this, as an American adoptive mom, who is actually in Africa.

I have said numerous times on my blog that I do not believe that international adoption is the answer to the problems of poverty and famine and illness and all of the other tragedies of society that are plaguing so many parts of the world.

I believe the a child’s culture and country of birth are a very important piece of who they are, and that a nation’s children are one of their greatest resources,... more

Here is another article fairly similar to the one I posted yesterday… it lacks the passion and strong wordings of Pool’s article. It expresses a lot of similar concerns (in a more constructive way in my opinion) and touches on several different aspects/concerns.

And while these articles focus on African children and adoption, you could very easily substitute Chinese children, or South American children or children from any other transracial international adoption and the issues would be the same.

The dilemma of adopting an African child The Associated Press

Published: October 11, 2006 http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/10/11/africa/AF_GEN_Adopting_from_Africa.php

JOHANNESBURG,... more

Continued from previous post...

Powerful stuff, huh? Here are my thoughts…

For one, I do not believe that this was a well-thought out or well-planned article. I believe it was a knee-jerk reaction by an adult adoptee from Africa, to all the outrageous coverage of Madonna and her trip to Malawi and her possible adoption. I have not read Hannah Pool’s book, but I am going to go out on a limb and guess that it has a very different tone to it than this article.

I think probably the biggest thing that we can learn from this article, is... more

Ok, here is one of the previously promised recent articles on transracial adoption and my feelings and ramblings.

This article was written by Hannah Pool, a woman who was adopted as a young child by white parents from an Eritrean orphanage, however her story could easily be the same if she was adopted from China, Ethiopian Guatemala, etc.

She has a book titled "My Father's Daughter" which I have not read but plan to. This article was written very recently in response to the stories about Madonna in Malawi.

Give it... more

In my last post, after discussing the importance of teaching a transracially adopted child about their culture, I asked, "So how do you do it?"

For us, we do most of the "text book answers"...we have story books, videos, outfits, toys, decorations and magazines from Vietnam, Korea, Ethiopia, etc. We talk about race and culture a lot, sometimes in serious conversations and sometimes casually.

Each of our kids know where they are from and where their brothers and sisters are from. We talk about and celebrate some of the cultural holidays. We talk a lot about African American history, and my 11 year-old daughter proudly made a book on Rosa Parks for her class last year. We enjoy... more

Who Am I? The Importance of Racial and Cultural Identity by Michele St. Martin is another one of the articles I found while playing around on the internet last night.

This is another great article on transracial adoption. This article discusses the importance of teaching a transracially adopted child about their culture, to interact with other people of your child’s race and to embrace the fact that once a Caucasian family adopts transracially, they become a minority family.

The article highlights several adoptive families and discusses their strategies in handling culture in their transracial families.... more

If you do not already receive it, Adoption.com has a free, weekly E-magazine on adoption that is full or adoption related news, products, services and all sorts of other good information. If you’d like to sign up for the Adoption.com weekly E-magazine, you can do so by clicking here.

This week there is a good article included in the e-magazine titled “Asian Children Growing... more