Now I am going to write about the fourth article in a series on transracial adoption from the Salt Lake Tribune.

This article is titled, “Race, culture challenging, but not real barrier for adoptive parents’ love”.

I have to say that right off, I liked the title. It sort of sums up the way I feel about transracial adoption…Yes, there are issues. Yes, they can be difficult and challenging and should not be overlooked. But, those issues are not big enough for me to decide not to love that child, not to choose to parent that child or not to build my family this way.

Moving on… I really enjoyed the very first quote in the article too, as I completely sympathized with the comment!!

It said,

“When Brenda Ontiveros takes her two youngest children to the park, she keeps a careful watch over the wood chips.
It's not because she's obsessed with slivers. It's their hair.
"If that gets in their hair, you just about need a vacuum to get it out," says the blond, blue-eyed mother of two adopted black children.

I can add sand, grass clippings and leaves to the wood chip concern!! After spending hours doing hair, the last thing I want to do is have to take it out because it got “stuff” in it, or to have to spend forever picking things out. I definitely got a laugh from that quote. :)

The article has a lot of more serious info as well. It discusses the importance of having transracial adoptive families get together and support each other, for the childrens' sakes, and for those of the adoptive parents as well.

It is very beneficial for transracially adopted children to see other families that “look like theirs”, and for them to get to interact with both other adoptees, and other children of their same race. These support groups are especially important for children who do not live in areas that are very diverse.

Support groups are also very important for adoptive parents. The article discusses how traditionally, moms can turn to their own mothers for parenting advice, but when a family adopts, it is often “new territory” for that family, and good advice can be hard to come by. Networking with other parents for advice and support is essential for adoptive parents.

I know for me, although we don’t have many transracial adoptive families where we live, that making the effort (which often means traveling) to get together with support groups, culture groups and other adoptive families is well worth it. I also know that the friends I have made through online adoption support groups, forums and my blogs, are highly important to me. It is refreshing and reassuring to be able to connect and communicate with people who really “get it”.

Back to the article…give it a read. It makes a lot of good points and shares a great list of resources for adoptive parents at the end.

If you need to connect with other adoptive parents or are searching for a culture group for your adopted children, here are some resources.

The Adoption.com Forums
Online support group info from Adopting.com
International adoption support from Adopting.com
Information and support for adoptive parents from Adopting.com