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Hi everyone,
We're early in the adoption process. We've decided on an agency and started our home study, but are really struggling with deciding on which country to target for adoption. Our original inclination was to adopt from Russia because we both have some Russian heritage in our backgrounds, and felt that it might be a good fit for us and the community we live in. However, the deeper into the process we get, the more concerns we have about adopting from Russia (with health concerns being at the top of the list). We're exploring other countries such as China and Guatemala, but we're unsure how they'll fit into the conservative Jewish community in which we live. We're curious to hear the experiences and stories of others that have been faced with similar situations.
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We're planning to adopt from Russia. I know health is a concern, but if you read the Russia Adoption Forum, you'll see that lots of people get healthy babies there.
In answer to your question, though, I have a cousin adopted from China who is doing great. She loves her congregation and knows all kinds of things about being Jewish. She'll be 5 in December, and was adopted at 6 months. She is totally accepted by all as a member of the congregation, and her mom is on the Board.
However, this might not be typical, as they live in Brooklyn, and attend a Progressive, unaffiliated congregation that is full of gays, lesbians, multi-racial families, adopted kids, and so on and so on. I was there for High Holydays, and the children of the congregation are of every type and description.
On the other hand, if you read some of the other posts in this forum, you'll see that more and more congregations are like this.
I suggest you talk to some people in your congregation to see how they feel about trans-racial adoption in general (you don't have to say you're considering it if you're not comfortable) and see if you feel you would be comfortable being a member with a child of a different race. If not, you may be able to find another congregation that WOULD be welcoming of a Jewish child who does not look Eastern European.
Best of luck!
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I live in a rural, mostly white, state and in my tiny Reform Temple there are at least four other families with children who are visibly adopted from overseas (mine included!). That doesn't include the adult AA converts who are also members.
In fact, other than adoption events, Temple is the most racially diverse place I go.
I asked if others were seeing similar diversity in their communities and the answer was YES.
Stars of David is a great resource for Jewish adoptive families.
Take a look around your shul (maybe talk to the Rabbi) to find out about other adoptive families. They may shed some light on how accepting the congregation is.