[Lexmom]

I am new to message boards. I have gained a lot of great information from reading your posts. I was hoping someone could help me find transracial adoptive support/play groups in my area. We are in the Southeast Michigan area and are having problems finding support groups in our area. Most groups seem to be on the west side of the state. My questions are:

Does anyone know of a Southeastern Michigan transracial adoptive support/play group?

Does anyone have suggestions as to how to find said groups?

Thanks so much for any help that you can provide.

[petutiepetunia]

Hi! I read your thread and I am too in southern Michigan and I wondered if you ever located any support groups? We are in the process of adoption and are open to biracial adoption but I too have wondered how difficult it would be to locate a support group in our area. Thanks

[smitty0099]

Hello!

We also are from SE MI and are about 3 weeks away from adopting a biracial baby. If you have heard of any groups, please post something regarding it.

At the very least, we could possibly set up our own forum for discussions, right?

[petutiepetunia]

Congrats!!!!



Have you done any reading? We have In Their Own Voices which I am 100 pages into and just got I'm Chocolate, You're Vanilla today. Have you read either of these? Any others you could recommend?

Did you go to any biracial seminars or any special research? I would be very interested in chatting with you sometime, if you'd like.

[Lexmom]

Congratulations!

I have not been able to locate any support groups in our area. You are onto something about starting our own support group.

I would recommend Black Baby, White Hands by Dr. Jaiya Johns. I had the opportunity to hear him speak. He's very inspiring. The book is about his childhood growing up as the first black baby adopted by a white family in New Mexico (I think, or was it Arizona...I read it a while ago. ) Anyway, he's devoted his life to studying adoption and transracial adoption.

I would love to chat with all of you, too.

Since my son is a toddler, I've been looking for good transracial adoption books for kids. I've come across a few. If you're interested, I can pm a list.

[smitty0099]

Thank you!


It's been a rollercoaster ride so far. I am sure there's a lot of that in most adoption cases, but I don't think I was prepared for it as much as I thought I was.

We are now about 2 weeks away and I wish I was more confident in it actually happening. I know, I know, I probably won't sleep right again for another 18 years

I like the idea of setting up our own message board, chat room specifically for MI couples. I am sure we could all learn a lot and support each other through times we may not know are coming. I will look into different types of boards and see what I can find. If any of you have suggestions, feel free to jump in. I am hoping we could grow into not just a support group online, but perhaps plan a yearly reunion or something similar. Getting ahead of the game here, but it's just a thought.

We aren't a group of licensed professionals, but with experience and good listening skills, I am sure we can help each other with various things, such as behavior modification, hair styling, great sales, new products, etc.

Again, I will look into it and let you know what I find.

[Lexmom]

I haven't used message board services. This site does have a Michigan Adoption forum, but it's not very active. I like the idea of having one specifically for us. Please keep me posted on your progress...both with the adoption and with the Michigan board, forum, etc research.


Good luck with everything. It is a rollercoaster, but it is worth every minute.

[Lexmom]

Ha! and it shows I'm a shop-aholic when my eyes lit up at tips on "great sales"

[smitty0099]

I have started one, on the MSN message boards. I am more than willing to adjust the settings as we go along and get suggestions, but right now it's set up that members have to be 'approved' to join...believe me, criteria is nothing, just want to prevent advertisers and untruthful situations from coming in. I called it "MI Baby's Playgroup". The link to go to it is...


http://groups.msn.com/MIBabysPlaygroup

On the right side, there is a column of things to click on, such as 'apply to join'.

I am inviting all MI couples who have adopted transracial or biracial children to join!

The idea is to have a place just for those who want to share advice, ideas, learn and grow together as Transracial or Biracial couples doing their best to raise our children. In other words, a non-professional support group. From there, anyone can set up play dates, 'reunions', group seminars, or whatever they want to try.

As for the adoption, I am on edge again, because we haven't heard from her in a week. She was supposed to return a phone call from the social worker in her area, and hasn't. She was supposed to go to the dr's this week, yet missed her appointment. She was also supposed to send some more bills for us to pay, but we haven't received those yet either. All of this was discussed about a week ago. If this placement is not going to happen, I would just like to know NOW, rather than in two weeks when the baby is due.

[Lexmom]

Thank you so much for starting the board. I can't wait to join and meet other MI transracial families.

You're in my thoughts. I hope everything works out for the best for all parties involved in this adoption.

[smitty0099]

Thank you!


If anyone has trouble getting through, please let me know.