The letter "S" is for siblings in this post of my Transracial Adoption ABCs.

Siblings - There is lots to think about when it comes to siblings and adoption.

Are you open to adopting siblings? Sibling groups are often the hardest to place, because many adoptive parents do not want more than one new child at a time, however it has been shown that siblings often do better with their adjustment than single children because they have each other as a "constant" in their lives.

From a child's point of view, being separated from your parents, your home and the only life you've ever known and being put into foster care or an orphanage and then adopted by a whole new family, could all be a lot less scary with a brother or sister by your side than it would be if you had to go through all of that all alone.

There is a lot of discussion about whether or not it is important for transracially adopted children to have a same-race sibling or another adopted sibling. Most people agree that while there are many benefits to a transracially adopted child having another transracially adopted sibling, it should not be the only reason a family chooses to adopt again (for more on this topic, you can read the post,The Importance (or lack thereof) of having a same-race sibling).

I think siblings are great, and I think that one of the very best things about siblings in a transracial adoptive family is the way that the kids fully embrace each other as siblings.

In our house we have white kids, black kids and Asian kids. We have kids that were born to us, kids that were adopted domestically and kids that were adopted internationally. We have kids that were adopted as babies and we have kids that were adopted at older ages. We have lots of kids close together in age.

And they all claim each other as brothers and sisters.

I have to smile when my daughter from Korea and my daughter from Ethiopia come to show me that they "look like twins" because they are both wearing pink shirts.

I beamed with pride when my son Ryan got upset with a substitute teacher for not being able to "tell" that Des was his sister, even though he is white and she is black. He still thought it should be obvious that they are brother and sister.

I got a good laugh when my son asked the little black girl at the play ground if the little blond-haired boy in the sandbox next to her was her brother, and she gave him a crazy look and said, "Ummmmmmmmm.....NO."

When we go out in the world, people will ask if we are a day care, as they see so many kids of so many different colors and don't think "family". But my kids look at each other, and they see their siblings.

More reading on siblings:

Adopting a Sibling Blog

Preparing Children for a New Sibling Through Transracial Adoption

Preparing Children for a New, Older Sibling