Here's a terrific resource for parents of transracially adopted kids:

Ask the Experts!

Send us your question about transracial or transcultural adoption or foster care, and one of our experts on transracial adoption will give you an answer. All questions and answers will be posted to this website, without using your name.

Michelle Johnson, MSW is an African-American adult adoptee raised by white parents. Her Masters' thesis at the University of Minnesota was on Transracial Adoption. During her doctoral studies at Syracuse University, she worked as an adoption specialist. She was formerly the Recruitment Project Manager and co-trainer of the Transracial Parenting Project curriculum at the North American Council on Adoptable Children (NACAC). She also worked at Another Choice for Black Children, an adoption agency in Raleigh, NC. Now Michelle is the supervisor of Foster Care and Case Management (CPS) at Chatham County Social Services in North Carolina, and is a founding member of Transracial Families of the North Carolina Triangle.

John Raible, EdD is a biracial African American adoptee raised by white parents. He is the father of two grown African American sons adopted from foster care, and the grandfather of biracial children. Dr. Raible works as an Assistant Professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in the College of Education & Human Sciences. As an educational researcher, he studies race, identity, and family diversity with a special focus on the development of what he calls transracialized white identities.

The questions and the answers on the site are thoughtful, helpful and stimulating.

Here's an example, with part of the question followed by a snippet of the answer.

...My husband and I are just starting the process of adoption and are strongly considering Ethiopia. We are both caucasian and have two bio kids, a son age 4 and a daughter 6. We would want to adopt a 2-3 year old boy. I have been doing a lot of research on transracial adoption and have to admit that it scares me. I am not concerned about experiencing prejudice myself or about putting our family in the "spotlight" and dealing with ignorant questions (although I recognize that all these things will happen). I am concerned about doing a disservice to my adopted child (and in turn my bio kids who would surely be affected by that). I have read as much as I can from adult adoptees from Africa and a more then a few times have seen comments that despite their loving parents, and good childhood, they wish they hadn't been adopted. One went so far as to say she would have rather stayed in Ethiopia and dealt with war and famine then deal with the feeling of isolation of growing up black in a white family. I would feel absolutely heartbroken if my adult child said that to me, feeling like I failed my child in my decision to remove them from their home country.

JOHN RAIBLE'S ANSWER:

... At the recent St. John's University adoption conference (October 2006), a parent posed a similar question. I felt like we adult adoptees were being asked to compare apples and oranges. I also felt like we were being asked this in order to validate a parent's decision over which we had no control. I responded by pointing out that regardless of the different variables people care to throw at us, the real point is that racism sucks. Once we get to the understanding that the issue is racism (and not who makes better parents), particularly when raising children of color, then we can start to figure out how parents of any color or culture are going to effectively address issues of racism with their children.

I highly recommend a visit to the site for everyone parenting kids of a different race. You'll be reading for HOURS, and learning a lot.