Transracial

By Justice Stevens Justice Stevens was adopted transracially with his sister. He shares his thoughts below about how the transracial placement affected him and what his parents did—and do—that help. When I was eight I was trans­racially adopted. My parents are white and I’m Black. We lived in a small white suburban town. The number… Read more

By Audrey Murph-Brown, EdD, MSW, LCSW, and Kim Stevens, MEd Audrey Murph-Brown intersects doctoral studies, clinical work, social justice, activism, and law enforcement along with experiences in elementary, secondary, and post-secondary education to power everything she does. Audrey holds a doctoral degree in education. Her dissertation chronicled the resilient processes of multiple-placed youth in foster… Read more

Friday, June 5 As an organization based in Minnesota, we at NACAC have been reeling with anger and heartbreak since last week when George Floyd—an unarmed black man—was murdered by the police in our hometown, leading to uprisings here and around the world. Black lives matter, and we stand with those who are protesting racism… Read more

Children and youth being raised in families of a different race and culture than their own have unique needs around positive identity formation and social / community safety. Through this webinar, presented by a young adult with lived experience and by an adoptive parent – both in transracial adoptive families – parents, youth, and professionals… Read more

From Adoptalk 2018, Issue 3; Adoptalk is a benefit of NACAC membership By JaeRan Kim, PhD © 2018 JaeRan Kim was born in South Korea in 1969 and adopted into a white family in Minnesota in 1971. Today, JaeRan works as an assistant professor at the University of Washington – Tacoma. Her research focuses on… Read more

The resources below were identified by Deb Reisner, NACAC’s parent support specialist who facilitates NACAC’s support services for transracial adoptive families in Minnesota. Blogs, Videos, and Websites by Transracial Adoptees For Transracial and Transethnic Adoptees John Raible Online: Supporting the Transracial Adoption Community Through Education and Research A Birth Project: Transracial Adoption from One Black… Read more

NACAC offers training for parent groups or agencies about how to best support and inform adoptive parents about the issues of race and culture involved in foster care and adoption. Our goal is to give participants an opportunity to talk about transracial placements in a supportive and honest environment, and to help child welfare systems… Read more

When raising a child of a different race or ethnic background, adoptive and foster parents may need extra help to help the children learn how to address racism and develop a strong sense of their own identity. Since our founding more than 40 years ago, NACAC has been dedicated to helping families understand that race… Read more

When I ask children in my Adoption Playshop sessions what they like best and least about their family, their answers reflect the importance of sibling relationships—real, imagined, yearned for, or lived-at-a-distance. They speak of siblings with affection, sadness, anger, longing, resentment, envy, gratitude, guilt, or bitterness. No matter what they share, it is clear that… Read more

by Deb Reisner, NACAC Staff When my husband and I adopted our first child 18 years ago, agency staff told us, “Take him home and love him. Everything will be fine.” Now we have five children and our family is a beautiful blend of African American, Native American, Latino, and European American races and cultures… Read more

By Joseph Crumbley, D.S.W. Each night, without fail, she prayed for blue eyes. Fervently, for a year, she had prayed.  Although somewhat discouraged, she was not without hope. To have something as wonderful as that happen would take a long time. Thrown, in this way, into the binding conviction that only a miracle could relieve… Read more