A question for african americans adopted by caucasion parents

Buddy, Not sure how many (if any) transracial adoptees are on this board. In case they aren't below is a selection of voices. I would also recommend you search the adoptive parent transracial adoption sub-forum for multi-page older threads where some really in-depth discussions took place. Book: In Their Own Voices: Transracial Adoptees Tell Their Stories by Rita J Simon and Rhonda M Roorda Blog: [url=http://mymindonpaper.wordpress.com/]My Mind on Paper | The Inspired Writing of Kevin D. Hofmann[/url] by Kevin D. Hoffmann (you need to start at the oldest to see the progression of how his voice has changed) Blog Post by Angela Tucker re the NPR excluding the transracial adoptee voice speaking about transracial adoption: [url=http://www.thelostdaughters.com/2014/01/npr-exclusion-from-transracial-adoption.html]Lost Daughters: NPR & Exclusion from the Transracial Adoption Experience Discourse: the Wisdom we Could Have Gleaned[/url] NPR fixes the exclusion and has a transracial adoptee: Growing Up 'White,' Transracial Adoptee Learned To Be Black by Chad Goller-Sojourner. [url=http://www.npr.org/2014/01/26/266434175/growing-up-white-transracial-adoptee-learned-to-be-black]Growing Up 'White,' Transracial Adoptee Learned To Be Black : NPR[/url] Kind regards, Dickons

My Husband and I are Caucasian , and we have Adopted Chinese, Cambodian and Latin American Orphans. We have experienced racial shunning, isolation, and rejection. As a Parent you can' t always change or Advocate for people to change ie most Children's or Family Theatre is Caucasian Casting,. Some of my kids have been wrongfully accused of shoplifting as the expectation until I pull out my Credit Card., but our Family loves being who we are as a Family!! Can I ask please why being Transracial would be an issue, for your Family please??? Juli

If we adopted black children it is likely they would be the only (MAYBE one or two others) dark children in their class. I worry that it may cause psychological damage and stress for them to be the "only"

It's not easy being an Only. Plenty of adoptees know this, by not knowing anyone else they are related to for most, if not all of their lives. Throw in being the only person of your race... It's not easy being an Only. I know some who have survived what can come with being an only fairly well, and some that didn't.

Being the only one of a race will let people know that he/she is foster or adoptive.

Well I never plan to deny that my children are adopted. We live in a very small town and everyone knows eachother andthe keeps up with their lives. Mostly everyone the child came in contact with (unless we visited a larger city) would know the child is adopted. Almosy everyone I know knows i plan on adopting. I think people around here would be more surprised if I had biological children! Lol

I think there is a difference. It's one thing to be open with your child about being adopted from the get-go. It's another to be essentially "outed" to everyone wherever you go because you are an "only" as described above.

My point is foster and adoptive kids have an extra layer, added to foster and/or adoptive. Kids are cruel. My oldest and youngest had problems with kids bringing up their being fostered and adopted and we're the same race.

I am a mixed race, transracial adoptee. I'm half hispanic and half black and was adopted by white parents. I have two brothers and two sisters also adopted by our caucasian parents. All of african american decent. I can share a little about my transracial adoption. When I was little (now 20 years old) I never thought about the whole transracial thing. My parents where my parents and all my friends in elemtary school knew it and never seemed to question it or even realize for that matter. I think everyone just kind of saw us as a normal family. I think where we lived at the time (massachusettes) played a major role in that. Where you live will have a great impact on your childs comfort level. Living in massachusettes was great. People were very accepting and there was very diverse culture there. Unfortunately my parents got bew jobs so we moved to minnesota. Minnesota, at least where we lived was kinda like the deep south. Everyone had lifted trucks with confederate flags in the back windows. Everyone loved to hunt and guns were their sacred posessions. A very redneck place. Nothing against that lifestyle of course. We all have our ways of living. As a black or as I was referred to many times "colored" child it was very hard to fit in to the white community. Put of my graduating class of nearly 300 hundred there were only 5 students who weren't white. It's not as bad as it sounds though. We were a strange family to most of the community there but not many had a problem with it. It was just something unusual to them. I didn't fit in well but i had a small group a friends all through highschool and definitly prefered it that way. I loved my small group of friends. Never once was my adoption or color of my parents an issue. Of course I faced issues with my race but not a whole lot. I always flew under the radar so to speak. I'll explain more later as I'm at work. I don't think it's too much different from a non transracial adoption. If you have any questions feel free to ask. -Alex

Thank you Alex! That is exactly the imput i wanted. I know that it will be different but for aome reason i feel drawn to AA girls. Plus with the county( not city) i live in it is very likepy that i will get AA foster children and possibly adopt AA children.

We adopted 2 :love: they are of the same race. I would not have taken our fd, .ow dd, if she would have been cc, because of the reasons you mentioned...I didn't want my son to be ' the adopted one ' , while the other child looked like us.

I am a bi-racial 45 year old adoptee (AA & Cauc) who was adopted by white folks and have white adoptive siblings. I also have been an adoption worker. So, my advice to you is make sure you are culturally diverse and embrace your childs AA heritage. It would be best if you had AA friends or a diverse community. Attend an AA church or function/event and see how comfortable you feel when you are the minority? Make sure your home has an AA presence as well as your heritage. Learn how to take care of AA hair and skin, learn about the culture and bring some of it to your home. Some things to think about....

I am a bi-racial 45 year old adoptee (AA & Cauc) who was adopted by white folks and have white adoptive siblings. I also have been an adoption worker. So, my advice to you is make sure you are culturally diverse and embrace your childs AA heritage. It would be best if you had AA friends or a diverse community. Attend an AA church or function/event and see how comfortable you feel when you are the minority? Make sure your home has an AA presence as well as your heritage. Learn how to take care of AA hair and skin, learn about the culture and bring some of it to your home. Some things to think about....