As soon as I saw the title of the article "I love my mixed race baby - but why does she feel so alien?", I had a feeling that the article was going to bug me. The article is written by a mom, and in it she shares her feelings about raising a biracial child after recently giving birth to a daughter. There are lessons to be learned from this article for transracial adoptive parents, however along with the thoughts on how it feels to raise a biracial child in a multiracial family, this article also has some pretty yucky adoption-related comments.

First off, this mom does a lot... more

Adoption has been getting a lot of attention in the media lately and the general public hears a lot about "the many" children that are getting adopted. However, we rarely hear any legitimate statistics on international adoption or domestic adoption. Today I am going to share a great article that takes a hard look at the statistics of international and domestic adoptions and the number of orphans worldwide.

The article is titled "How Many... more

One of the ways I continue to try and give back to Ethiopia, the country I have adopted two children from, is volunteering as the AHOPE Supplies Coordinator. AHOPE stands for African HIV Orphans: Project Embrace, and it is an orphanage for AIDS orphans in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The AIDS orphans at AHOPE have not only lost their families to HIV/AIDS, but they are now living with this terrible virus themselves.

AHOPE provides a loving environment for these children, as well as life-saving anti-retro viral medications... more

I figured I would take a break from some of the "heavy" topics I have been hitting lately and go back to my Transracial Adoption ABCs for a short while. I am up to the letter "T".

Tax Credit - Before you read any further, please understand that taxes are complicated, and I am no where near an expert on this. I don't even do my own taxes (my Dad's accountant does). So take this information as basic and as a starting point, and do your research, and when... more

The letter “P” is for packing today in my Transracial Adoption ABCs.

Packing – Almost all adoptions involve some amount of travel. There are some international programs that still allow parents to have their children escorted home instead of requiring parents to travel, but those seem to be getting fewer all the time. There are also some parents who adopt domestically and are lucky enough to be matched with a child very close to their home, but... more

In my last post, I wrote all about AHOPE, how I got involved with them and how I became committed to HIV+ children in Ethiopia.

Now I am going to write about how you can help the children of AHOPE.

I am the volunteer supplies coordinator for AHOPE. As you can likely imagine, housing and caring for 80 or so HIV+ children requires a lot of supplies. AHOPE relies heavily on donations for items such as clothing, baby care items, school supplies and basic medical supplies. And because it is very costly to ship things to Ethiopia and AHOPE would have to pay fees to receive the packages, they rely on traveling... more

Today I am going to write about something that I am passionate about, and something that is very near and dear to my heart. Today I am going to write about AHOPE.

AHOPE stands for African HIV Orphans: Project Embrace. AHOPE Ethiopia is an orphanage for HIV+ children in Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia. AHOPE Ethiopia is a NGO (non-governmental organization).

AHOPE for Children is the non-profit corporation licensed in the state of Washington that funds AHOPE Ethiopia. AHOPE for Children is also recognized by the U.S. Treasury... more

I have one more article I wanted to share before I jump back into finishing my Transracial Adoption ABCs.

If you are involved at all in the Ethiopian adoption community, you have likely heard some of the discussions regarding the much-anticipated New York Times article on Ethiopian adoptions. There has been a lot of speculation by adoptive parents and agencies on yahoo groups and adoption forums, in regards to what the article would cover and how it would portray Ethiopian... more

Usually when I write on this blog about transracial parenting, I am looking at and addressing transracial adoption issues from the viewpoint of a white adoptive parent with Asian and black children. That is because that is my reality, and because most often when we hear about transracial adoption, it is referring to white parents adopting Asian, Hispanic, black or other non-white children.

Today, thanks to a reader, I have a really cool article to share about "typical" transracial adoption in reverse. This article, titled, "Love is Colorblind", which was recently featured in the Detroit News,... more

In our house, May is a month of travel this year. Earlier this month, Josh, Belane, Marcus and I traveled to Chicago, where we attended a fundraising event for HIV+ adoption. I was a speaker at the event and Belane was a guest of honor. (You can read more about it here and here on my personal blog).

We just got home from Chicago this weekend and unpacked, and now are gearing up for our big trip to Disneyworld, Universal Studios and Sea World in Florida, thanks to Make A Wish (and to Belane, who wished to hug... more