There are many useful resources available for learning about transracial adoption and preparing for a transracial adoption. There are articles to read, books to read, informational websites, forums, email groups, blogs and even online adoption classes to take.

All of the above resources are highly valuable to prospective adoptive parents and established transracial adoptive families. But when someone asks you in conversation, “How do you know if transracial adoption is the right thing for your family?” they are looking for an answer, or at least some conversation, and not just a bunch of resources to research.

I was asked that question by a prospective adoptive parent last week, and I have been giving it a lot of thought.

Here is a list of 10 true/false questions I have come up with for parents to ask themselves, to try and help you determine if transracial adoption is right for your family. I don’t have a fancy scoring system or anything like that, but I think that you will get a general idea from your answers to these if transracial adoption is a good idea for you and your family.

True or False

- You have a genuine interest in other cultures and incorporating another culture into your family appeals to you.

- You are comfortable being around people of different races than yourself.

- You are willing to step outside of your comfort zone.

- You do not believe that lighter (or whiter) is better.

- You understand and acknowledge that racism and white privilege are very real and still exist today in the United States and many other countries.

- You do not strive to be colorblind, but see the beauty and equality in people of all colors.

- You do not mind (or can at least tolerate) lots of attention when you are out in public.

- You can accept the fact that there will always be some people who judge you and your family and who think transracial adoption is wrong.

- Your life is full of people of a variety of races, or you are willing to make your life more integrated, and would enjoy doing so.

- You have at least some friends and family members that will be supportive if you adopt transracially.

It is interesting to me to look at this list and think about how my answers have changed from how I would have answered these back before our first transracial adoption, and how I would answer them now.

I hope that this list is useful. If you have one to add to the list, please leave a comment (and if you are looking for resources, check out all of the links at the beginning of this post).