[sherryk]

Are there any e-pals out there who have experienced transracial adoption?

Do you need support?

How has your experience been?

Share with us!

Blessings,
sherryk
moderator

[sherryk]

Hi all!

Our experience with adopting transracially has been very positive. We are Caucasian and our daughter is Filipino. I have gotten questions or comments that are "nosey" but I've learned how to respond. It is important for my daughter to appreiciate how God made her...beautiful!

Blessings,
sherryk
moderator

[mckenna]

i am in the process of adopting my aa/ca foster son and i am ca. so far it has been great! it is even helping some of my uninlightend relatives to be more open minded and think twice before they make generalizations based on people's races. i would love to hear experiences from people who have adopted transracially and their children are older, to see what issues they are facing

[bellazmama]

Bella (AA/CA) has been the most wonderful thing in our lives! She's 15 months old now and she came home to us at 3 weeks.

I'd also love to hear from older transracial adoptees.

Sarah

[Monica]

I am an adoptee who is Korean and my aparents are white. I can not say it was always easy for me mainly because I was brought up in small country where people are very narrow minded. Although my parents helped me a lot. I would come home crying from school a lot of times because kids were making fun of me looking different. My parents would tell me I was not very different and to be happy with who I am. It is frustrating too when I have to prove to strangers that these people next to me are my parents. I am sorry this is sounding kind of negative, but for the most part yes I did not mind that I was a different race then my parents. My parents felt bad though because they never knew what it most feel like to have racial comments made to them because they are the majority while I was a minority.

Sincerely,
Monica

[Annie Lee]

We are leaving for Florida in two weeks to adopt our second child. Both of our children will be black, I am white and my husband is Mexican

[calvinhs]

I loved reading the different threads on transracial adoption. My son is Filipino and he is 5. We have had a great experience so far. But I worry about the future. He is very aware of being different. We have 2 other children and they are both cac. so he does feel different. He is starting to ask questions, and we try to aswer them in ways that make him feel secure and loved, but my heart does go out to him. It is not an easy road! We are trying to get connected with the Filipino community, but that hasn't been easy either.Any ideas are appreciated.
Stacy

[Mary Ann Bednar]

I am the adoptive Mom to four beautiful kids. My oldest is Amerasian, and the younger three are AA. My children range in age from 12-5. (my 5yr olds are twins). Overall I have had a very positive experience.
The problem I have right now is with my 1st grader. Her friends have finally noticed (duh) that she insn't the same color as I am. She gets upset when they tell her I can't be her mom cuz we don't look alike. I just tell her that not all Kids look like their parents, and that we are family. Since I'm an older Mom, I also hear things like "Hey, is that your Grandma?" This drives my oldest one nuts. She can't stand it.

[davinok]

My name is Katie and my partner is Rebekah. We adopted an aa baby girl at birth and she is 21 months old now. We have had a wonderful experience, she is the joy of our life. I have also been amazed at how much my "bi-cultural competence" has increased. I thought that I have friends of many races before the adoption, but now my contacts and comfort with people of all backgrounds has increased very much (whether my daughter Aliyah is around or not) and that has been a great growing edge for me.

[ucme4dk]

We have three children. My husband and I are cauc. of Eastern European decent. Our two girls are adopted and are of different races than us. Hannah is Mexican/Venezualan(sp??), and our newest addition Abby is 1/2 Japanese, 1/4 Hawaiian, and 1/4 Filipino. We live in a large city, Dallas, so we have not experienced any question yet. It will be interesting though to see how or if other kids will say anything to them when they start school.
Sara

[rastachris]

We are the proud parents of two gorgeous black babies! Our son was adopted from Haiti (home 10/22/03), and our daughter, 10 weeks, was adopted domestically. I am white and my husband is a lovely multi-racial man from Trinidad.

While we don't see my husband's family too often (they're all in Trinidad), my sisters-in-law are darker-skinned than my husband, and most of their children are darker still. So our kids have family members who look more like them. We're glad for that.

Both of our families have been awesome, and we've not had any problems with friends accepting our choice to adopt transracially.
We live in San Diego in a diverse neighborhood and haven't really had any problems. Some people stare and try to figure us out, and some folks have asked if I am fostering. Mostly people are friendly and smile at the beatiful babies in the stroller.

I take notes when I hear a great comeback for Nosey Rosies, and I know that we will handle ourselves with pride, dignity and compassion if/when we are confronted with mean, insensitive or ignorant people.

I'm glad to hear that so many others are having mostly positive experiences as well, and I look forward to hearing from more transracial adoptees about their experiences.

Tina