There are countless resources available to transracial adoptive parents of today. We can read books all about transracial adoption. We can read articles in magazines, newspapers and online. Heck, we can read entire magazines dedicated to adoption. We can read blogs (both personal and educational). We can get pre-adoption education and post-adoption services. We can listen to the voices of adult adoptees. The resources are bottomless if we take the... more

Transracial adoptive parents are often looking for great books, dolls, toys, music and art to add to their families' collections.

Today I have a recommendation for two books that I have really been enjoying with my kids.

The first book is called "Children Just Like Me - A unique celebration of children around the world". It was written and photographed by Barnabas and Anabel Kindersley, and was produced in association with UNICEF.

The book is big, and filled with gorgeous photographs. The book features children from... more

Many parents who were adopting from Ethiopia last year were familiar with the blog "Destination Ethiopia", which was written by Denise B., a volunteer who spent seven months at Adoption Advocates International's Layla House in Addis Ababa.

Denise did a wonderful job blogging about her experiences with the children. She talked about the emotional highs and lows of orphanage life, for both her and the children. She shared her joy as children were united with adoptive families, and shared her sadness of missing kids she grew close to. She shared... more

The New York Magazine had a long and wonderful feature article yesterday on adoption, featuring several different families who adopted from Ethiopia. The name of the article is "The Nuclear Family, Exploded" and it was written by Emily Nussbaum.

The article looks at a wide variety of adoption issues, and addresses them by sharing the experiences of several different adoptive families. The question is asked, "Do parents really love adopted children differently than their own offspring?"

Some of the issues addressed in the article include:

- The unexpected challenges that can go along with bringing home a new child.... more

Parents of non-white kids have often had to search high and low for black, Asian, Hispanic and other ethnic dolls. While blond-haired and blue-eyed dolls are fine, parents and children want dolls that look like the little girls that are playing with them, and many parents want their children to have dolls with a variety of skin tones and features.

For transracial adoptive parents, finding ethnic dolls can be fun and can be a challenge. I was excited to see this... more

If you have not yet visited the "Anti-Racist Parent" blog, it is a wonderful resource for transracial adoptive parents. The Anti-Racist parent blog is a blog (produced by an anti-racism training company titled New Demographic) for parents who are committed to raising their children with an anti-racist outlook, which is obviously something that should be very important for all transracial adoptive parents.

While most of the posts on this blog are educational, appropriate for transracial adoptive families and very thought provoking, Wednesday's post this week is a real gem for transracial adoptive... more

For families adopting internationally, a common question that pops up is if it is a good idea to bring the children they already have at home along on the trip to pick up their new child.

A reader of my blog recently left me this question:

We have 9 & 10 year-old bio kids. Would you recommend them traveling to Ethiopia to bring their adopted brother into the family? Do you think whether or not they travel with us will make a difference in their long-term bonding with their new brother?

There are good arguments... more

Today I was directed to an awesome essay on transracial adoption, written by an amazing eighth grader, who was adopted from Korea by a white family.

The essay can be found on the blog, the Transracial Korean Adoptee Nexus, and the direct link is here.

It is highly impressive that this essay was written by an eighth grade girl. It is well thought out, well researched, well expressed and well written. She also does a great job of being objective, and giving thought and credit to many different points of view. She did a better job on this than most adults would.

For transracial adoptive... more

National Public Radio (NPR) is doing a series on adoption this week, and today's story is one of a transracial adoptive family.

The story is titled "Mother and Son Offer Transracial Adoption Insights", and it shares the story of Judy and Bob Stigger, who adopted two biracial children in Chicago back in the 1970s.

In the article, Judy Stigger addresses some of the issues that transracial adoptive families often experience, such as the rude comments and prying questions that people feel that they have the right to ask, just because your family looks different than most.

She also discusses how... more

My last post in my Transracial Adoption ABCs for the letter "T" is going to be on adoption travel. Travel is a huge part of almost any adoption, and it can be a wonderful and exciting part, and also a stressful and very challenging part of your adoption experience.

Travel - Unless you are doing a foster adoption or domestic infant adoption from a very local agency, it is very likely that your adoption will involve some travel. While there are still some international adoption... more