[waitinginnj]

I adopted my daughter from Russia. She is of Roma heritage. I am wholly comfortable with us being a family. In a perfect world, she wouldn't have needed a new mother. But that wasn't her world. I chose to adopt internationally.

She wasn't being raised in a traditional Roma culture here or in Russia. I certainly can educate her about it and ensure that she has pride. I can do the same thing with the Russian culture. I am not saying that there isn't some level of loss, but I don't know how positive the culture is for a minority child in an orphanage anyway. We can't ignore the culturan history or birthfamily history with out detriment to our children and our families.

What we can't forget, especially as parents through adoption, is that a child is a unique individual and "hardwired" with their individual personality and sense of self. Our jobs as parents is to provide them with the opportunities, love and hope to develop their unique selves.