Many of us with internationally adopted kids, especially internationally adopted kids of color and especially boys, live with the fear of how others' perceptions of our children will impact their lives. Many issues of transracial adoption are discussed on various blogs here and in media elsewhere in the adoption community, and one discussion that comes up often is the common idea that children from other countries commit crimes when they get to be of a certain age.

Although it's hard to consider, our children may be considered immigrants... more

Growers in Guatemala would like it with a little more profit, please. Hoping for an 'environment-friendly' seal of approval, fifteen farmers in the Chanmanqua coffee cooperative producing high-grade beans in the mountains near the Honduran border have worked harder, and opened their farms and their books to heavy scrutiny. For their efforts, they've been certified by the Rainforest Alliance in... more

ABC News is looking for families who've adopted from Latin America and Europe to profile on "World News with Charles Gibson".

Interested?

I have no idea what the slant of the story is to be, but they're leading the call for families with one father's comment:

It was like a miracle was dropped into my lap.

Make of that what you will.

This link will take you to a site where you can fill out a form for network news producers, and perhaps your family could be included.

While tooling around the Internet lately, and hanging around on groups and forums, I've come across some cool and useful sites.

Gallaudet University's web site has a blog starting up that details students' travels in Guatemala.

Dr. Barbara White will be posting regularly with highlights of the trip and details about the organizations they will be studying and working with.

If you're not familiar with Gallaudet,... more

More from a participant's experience with Jane Brown Playshops, this time a mother's take on her kids' participation:

The 2 hour playshop is designed for children ages 5 and up. After the playshop, parents are given a general wrap-up.

This particular workshop session had approximately 15 kids ages 5-8 years old, most of whom were transracially internationally adopted. Jane conducted the workshop with the help of two young adult Korean adoptees. During... more

Jane Brown's name soon becomes familiar to families who've adopted internationally. As the creator of Adoption Playshops, she is one of the pioneers in the exploration of issues involving racial identity in adoptees. With adult adoptees assisting, she conducts seminars and workshops all over the USA and Canada.

Here's some of what she says on the FCC (Families with Children from China) website about her work:

We... more

Monkeys are coming at me from all directions. First, yesterdays post on the Older Parent Blog had them performing a charming (or, not so) euphemism for drug abuse. In gray wig and support hose (standard geezer disguise I use when writing over there) today I posted fond memories of non-human mothers who've taught me a thing or two or twelve hundred about parenting over the years.

Now, I find out that I am one.

While doing my normal morning troll for stimulation,... more

If your daily life is lived in an hyper-developed country, and if you spend a lot of time reading posts on web groups, list serves and forums from post-adoptive parents much like yourself, you won't be alone if you begin to find yourself assuming that the world has a shortage of unvalued, starving children born to unvalued, starving women who'd rather not have them but have no choice in the matter, and an over-abundance of hopeful adoptive parents desperate for a little one.

Hopeful adoptive parents ... exactly what the posters were at one time ... are sometimes characterized... more

If you've completed an international adoption, somewhere in the process you probably sought out information on the Internet. There is a wealth out there, starting right here, and once you start looking, you just keep finding.

Once your child is home you will be busy, but may miss the cyber-contact you've become comfortable with ... addicted to. Post-adoption, you might choose to continue your immersion in the online adoption community. Tread carefully!

Opinions amongst adoptive parents, especially those voiced virtually... more

There are a couple of things most people learn after enthusiastically joining every Web group, listserve and forum they come across while searching for information in the early stages of the adoption process: they can be addictive, and not everyone is nice.

Group definitions can be broad or intricately specific, so while grazing for pertinent info much crops up.

Starting with adoption as the defining term for a group, recommendations and links soon weave a path as complex as a freeway interchange in Tokyo. It can go something like this:

Adoption- getting the hang of the idea, the terms, etc.

About you – you’re older or younger, or Jewish, or Swedish, or an... more