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 under the letter "V" in my Transracial Adoption ABCs is on the words voice and vulnerable.

The reality is that adoption involves many people who are in a vulnerable state. Orphaned children are some of the most vulnerable people anywhere. Pregnant mothers who are considering adoption for their child are highly vulnerable. Even adoptive parents, with all of the emotions that go into choosing to adopt and surviving the process, are vulnerable.

When you take all of that vulnerability, and throw in a whole lot of emotions and big chunks of money, it is easy to understand how easily the situations can be taken advantage of. As much as we like to think... more

I am getting down to the nitty-gritty of these Transracial Adoption ABCs posts. Today I am up to letter "V", and "V" is for visa.

Visa - No, I do not mean Visa the credit card (although arguably, that could certainly be an adoption term for many of us!). I am talking about the immigration visas required for internationally adopted children.

Immigration is complicated, and immigration for adopted children is no exception.

The process of obtaining a visa for your internationally adopted child is two-fold. The first part of the process is the I600A,... more

The letter "U" is for unpredictable in my Transracial Adoption ABCs.

Unpredictable - Some of the best adoption advice I have ever been given is to "expect the unexpected" and to be able to roll with the proverbial punches.

You often hear adoption being referred to as "an emotional roller coaster", and it definitely is. The emotional highs are really, really high (such as meeting your child for the first time), and the emotional lows are really, really low (such as losing a referral). One of the reasons that adoption often is such an emotional roller coaster is because it is a very unpredictable... 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

I can't finish up my posts for the letter "T" in my Transracial Adoption ABCs without a post on transracial adoption, since this is, in fact, the transracial adoption blog.

Transracial Adoption - Transracial adoption, in a nutshell, is when parents of one race adopt a child of a different race. These adoptions are also usually transcultural, meaning the family adopts a child from a different culture. While it is simple to define, it is far from a simple concept or topic.

My little post counter says that this is the 740th post I have written on the topic of transracial adoption, so obviously... more

While earlier in this Transracial Adoption ABCs series I wrote about adopting teenagers, today, the letter "T" is for toddlers.

Toddlers - Toddler adoption is a unique type of adoption. Many people make the false assumption that adopting a toddler is simply adopting a bigger baby or an older baby, and that line of thinking can cause problems.

When you read parenting books and articles, teens and toddlers seem to get the reputations for being the challenging... more

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

You do not hear a whole lot of talk about adoption and marriage. Usually when there are discussions on email groups or forums about adoption and marriage, they revolve around one spouse being ready and committed to adopting and the other spouse being reluctant to adopt, or not ready to do adopt.

But marriage is, or at least should be, a big part of adoption (when you are dealing with a married couple). Single parents can skip... 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