[xotla]

Hi--

I was wondering if anyone would be interested in sharing their thoughts as Latinos/Chicanos/Hispanics looking to adopt. Since I've been researching adoption I've seen alot of information/discussions on interracial adoption and other adoption issues for white parents and some for African-Americans looking to adopt but the only discussions regarding raza seem to be about Guatemaltecos being adopted.

Specifically what I've been thinking about lately is my husband and I's adoption situation. We live in a small midwestern city and want to do domestic adoption. As this point we are just starting the process of adopting an African-American infant.

Alot of the informaiton available on transracial adoption assumes white people are the audience and includes prohibitions about saying certain things, that, having lived in a dark brown skin for 30 years I would never even consider saying to anyone, much less my own child. Obviously being Chicana and African-American is not an equivalent experience in many ways, yet all the "Interracial Adoption" links I've followed leave me hanging.

This has turned out be way longer than I meant it to be. Anyway, if anyone has any similar experiences or resources to point me to, please share.

To sum up, basically, I have been considering, as I think of different ways I could try to make sure my child grew up to be as proud and secure in his own identity as I am in mine, what does that mean when I want to call him "mi'jo" or sing him las mañanitas?

Thanks for any help.