In my last post I wrote about questions that adoptive parents should ask. In this post, I am going to talk about the questions that adoptive parents are going to be asked.

Questions you will get - Early in your adoption process you will have to answer lots of questions. During the homestudy process, your social worker will likely ask you many of the questions that were in my last post. When you choose an adoption agency and choose a program, they... more

In my last post, I wrote about parents in adoption. I wrote about both birth parents and adoptive parents, why adoption should primarily be about the children and not about the parents, and that I believe all children deserve to have parents.

In this post, I am going to write about the responsibilities that parents take on when they choose transracial adoption as a way to build their family.

For adoptive parents, the blessings of adoption are immense, and so are the responsibilities. On Father's Day my husband was talking about the blessings and the responsibilities of being an adoptive parent.... more

Continuing on in the letter "P" in my Transracial Adoption ABCs, I am going to write about parents.

Parents - While parents, both adoptive parents and birth parents, are important parts of the adoption triad, the focus of any adoption should be on the child involved. Adoption as a big picture should be about finding homes for children that need them. Adoption should only occur when it is taking a child that is a true orphan, a child that has been neglected and/or abused or a child whose parents are choosing to place that child for adoption because that is what they feel is best for their child,... more

In my last post, I wrote about older child adoption in my Transracial Adoption ABCs. In this post I will give a quick summary of our experiences adopting older children.

We have adopted three children who were six years of age or older at adoption. Each of their adjustments into our family were all very different. Some were more challenging than others, but even... more

In my last two posts, I have been writing about the reactions that my transracial adoptive family gets when out in public, and why it is important to prepare your children for the questions and comments your family may receive.

Here are some tips on preparing your kids–

- Talk to your kids honestly about why your family will likely receive extra attention. Starting with something simple, such as, “in most families, the parents and the children are all the same color and look somewhat... more

There is no doubt that when you are a transracial adoptive family, you are going to draw the attention of others when you are out in public. Much of the attention will be positive, some will be intrusive and some will be down right rude.

While it is hurtful to adoptive parents to have their families’ validity questioned, it is even more hurtful and upsetting to the children who were transracially adopted to hear these comments or to be put on the spot with prying questions by people they do not know.

I recommend... more

I am going to take a break today from the Transracial Adoption ABCs and write a bit about being a transracial adoptive family out in public.

My family just spent an amazing week in Florida on my daughter’s Make A Wish trip. We left the small, quiet town where we live, and where just about everyone knows us, and ventured... more

Today's post on the Transracial Adoption ABCs is brought to you by the letter "G".

Gender and Girls - I have repeatedly heard a statistic, and although I have no idea where it came from or how mathematically accurate it is, I do believe that the spirit of the statistic is true. I have heard that out of all adoptive parents that have a gender preference and request a specific gender for the child they are adopting, about 80% want to adopt a girl.

That is a huge percentage and may seem unlikely at first, but not as much when you start to think about it. Waiting lists are almost always... more

In my last post I discussed the benefits of domestic newborn transracial adoption. Today, I am going to talk about the risks and the more difficult aspects (again, please remember that these are generalizations).

-As much as you may want a baby and love a baby, that baby is not yours in any way until that mother signs the papers and he is put in your arms. In a situation where adoptive parents are being “matched”... more

Now I am going to write about the fourth article in a series on transracial adoption from the Salt Lake Tribune.

This article is titled, “Race, culture challenging, but not real barrier for adoptive parents’ love”.

I have to say that right off, I liked the title. It sort of sums up the way I feel about transracial adoption…Yes, there are issues. Yes, they can be difficult and challenging and should not be overlooked. But, those issues are not big enough for me to decide not to love that child, not to choose to parent that child or not to build my family this way.

Moving on… I... more