Across Transracial Lines
For those who have adopted across transracial lines, you are not just adopting a child. You are adopting his or her entire culture.
Are you one who lives in the minority or your child lives in the minority? What life differences does that cause? Do you feel like you or your family stands out in a crowd because people stare at you? This is a reality for too many families; one of not feeling accepted, but different.
For families that have adopted internationally and/or across transracial and transcultural lines, it is a change that will probably impact their family and everyday life. To initiate a discussion regarding this concern, The New York Times and Facebook hosted a Facebook live discussion, according to this news article. The key speakers for this discussion were two women who were adopted into transracial and transcultural families. Viewers were able to listen to their discussions and ask them questions. The two women involved in the discussion were Margaret, who was born in Honduras, and Nicole who was born in China.
Both discussed the importance of starting communication early on about race. That includes discussing racism, how to respond to criticizing comments from others, and how to incorporate their culture into the family.
Personally, this is a subject that hits home for me, as my husband and I are a transracial family. While she is still young and doesn’t truly understand race and still sees everyone the same, the time is coming when someone will ask our daughter why she looks different from her mom and dad or why she was adopted. I hope that my husband and myself are prepared enough and have started the conversation early enough that she will always feel confident in her responses and always feel comfortable coming to us and sharing any questions or concerns she may have.
This Facebook conversation hopes to bring to light the many areas of adoption and transracial considerations. Transracial and transcultural considerations is an ever-changing and always evolving facet in families. It is something that is always prominent. You don’t adopt a person in international adoption. You adopt their whole culture.
