Choosing a Transracial Adoption
By Bruce Kong
In today’s society, race and color often has a stigma of being stretched out too thin to the point where it sticks out like a sore thumb. And as a result, we don’t focus on the human aspect anymore – we emphasize the person’s skin color and stereotype them immediately. Black History Month plays a crucial role in American history to signify that we’ve moved passed looking superficially. We have come a long way to look past skin color and focus more attention on the person underneath the skin.
If You’re Pregnant and Considering Adoption, this Colorado Adoption agency highly recommends that you would consider a transracial adoption!
We will define what transracial adoption is, our agency’s steps for reviewing and matching families, and the benefits of transracial adoption.
If you need help with adoption now, you can call us at 888-307-3340, text us at 888-307-3340, or email us here.
What is Transracial Adoption?
A transracial adoption or interracial adoption is when adoptive parents adopt children of another race and ethnicity. The majority of adoptive parents who go through with a transracial adoption are white; there has been a 20% increase in adoptive parents of a different race (Asian, Black, Hispanic) who are stepping outside of their comfort zones to adopt a child of a different race and ethnicity.
Reviewing and Matching Families
Adoption Choices of Colorado will select family portfolios for you to select from, and once you’ve seen each family, it will be up to you to determine which family is a match for your child.
But be forewarned, adopting families come from a variety of different backgrounds. So you may want to consider what you think is best, and a few qualities that you will see in these family portfolios consist of a few of the following:
- Religious preferences
- Age of parents
- Professions
- A multi-diverse community
- Location of family’s home
There are multiple things to choose from, so it is ideal that, as the birth mother, you do your research before adopting your child to a family. And once you have selected a family’s profile, we will move on to the next step of the Adoption Process, which is figuring out if you’d prefer an Open Adoption, Semi-closed Adoption, or Closed Adoption. To keep things short, these are the levels of communication between birth parents and adoptive parents.
Benefits of Choosing a Transracial Adoption
- A Diverse Home Environment- A multi-race family is culturally enriching, and it embraces diversity while at the same time seeking new moments in providing a positive outlook on race through books, art, music, and education. It will challenge the child to step outside their zones of stereotype.
- Exploring Curiosity and Honesty- Adoptive parents can help guide the child to ask questions and even traverse in broadening their diversity horizons.
- Positivity and Dignity- This one may take a little work – but for a good reason. A child will spend their entire life growing up feeling different and unseen. But by opening up a sense of clear communication, adoptive parents can insert self-esteem into the child and create a warm, comfortable tide of emotional safety. At the same time, it is important to ensure that the child continues to stay in touch with their cultural roots and never dismisses their minority group.
How do Adoptive Parents Benefit from a Transracial Adoption?
Expressing genuine interest in culture is the number one reason why adoptive parents decide to go with a transracial Colorado adoption or other adoption agencies in Colorado. Respecting a child’s culture – and maintaining their connections to it play a vital part in the process. It helps the child thrive and allows them to understand that they are cared for.
At the same time, this will help the adoptive parents acknowledge racism for what it truly is and draw out any preconceived notions they have about a different race and ethnicity. Educating themselves about their race is a start to learning more about their child’s background and history.
Remember that transracial adoption is an opportunity for birth mothers and adoptive parents to open themselves up to new experiences. It doesn’t hurt to educate oneself on the cultural roots of another individual’s background.
If you are facing an unplanned pregnancy and want to learn more about your adoption options, contact Adoption Choices of Colorado by email, phone, or text: Email Us, Text us: 720-371-1099, Call us: 303-670-4673 (HOPE). If you are hoping to adopt, please contact us here.