Search Results for: blog knowing your racial heritage

There is a Foster Child on Your Doorstep

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It is a sad commentary on the foster system in Texas to write about how each of our boys had been prepared for delivery to our home. On February 5, 2003, our state social worker showed up with one month old Caleb. We had been told that he was one half African American and the other half Hispanic. When we pulled back the blanket over him, we received a shock. Caleb was as white as white can be. His last name was even White. We have now checked his DNA and know that he is 25% Hispanic and 75% Caucasian. … Continue reading →

Celebrating Your Child’s Heritage

If you adopt internationally, you will probably want to help your children feel pride in their national heritage. We do need to emphasize our children’s similarities to us and our unity as a family, and our American citizenship. But most adult adoptees report that they felt different from others anyway, especially if they lived in a non-diverse community, and wished they had been taught to take pride in their country of origin and its people. Larger adoption agencies often sponsor cultural events, picnics for families with children from a certain culture, and a family weekend “culture day” or “culture camp” … Continue reading →

Knowing Your Racial Heritage

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Everyone wants to know their racial heritage. For most of us, it’s something that we never had to think about. We could look in the mirror and at the rest of our family and get a pretty good idea as to where we came from. Many adopted children do not have this luxury. Some never knew either one of their biological parents. Others know just one, usually their birth mother. If that parent is racially mixed, then the child knows very little about their personal ancestry. Intermarriage has surged in the last number of years and today there are a … Continue reading →

Living Our Dream Life

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Today, our daughter played her violin with the praise orchestra at a large church. She is a professional violinist and this church hires her when they need her. My daughter knew at a very early age that playing the violin would be a major part of her life. She is living out her dream. At about age sixteen, she cleared her schedule so she could start practicing long hours. She majored in violin performance in college and graduated with high honors. She performs at various places in Houston and traveled, before she was married, with a contemporary Christian band. She … Continue reading →

American Children Are Being Adopted in Foreign Lands

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There is a problem in this country. The majority of the families that consider adopting children are Caucasian. The majority of the children that need to be adopted are African American. The number of foreign children that are being adopted by Americans is increasing. African American babies are being sent to foreign countries. The United States is sending African American newborns to Canada and Western Europe. The families that receive these children say that their primary motive for taking them is that they wanted a newborn baby, without regard to that baby’s race. They say that there is no bias … Continue reading →

Ethnic Culture Class, Part 2

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Over 35 years ago, I had a very significant conversation with a friend. I did not understand it as important at that time. But, I remembered it. I grew up in the south in the fifties and early sixties. The only black people that I knew were domestic employees in my home and in my friends’ homes. It seems like it was so long ago. In 1970, I was a second year law student at the major college in the state. My class started out the previous year with 180 students. In that class were three black men, three white … Continue reading →