Transracial Adoption in California

What is transracial adoption?

Transracial or interracial adoption is when you adopt a child whose race or ethnicity is different from your own. Whether you are completing a domestic infant adoption, foster care adoption or international adoption, transracial adoption is a path you can take.

Because there are children of many races available for adoption, plenty of FCCA’s adoptive placements are interracial. If a transracial or multicultural adoption is right for you, then we can help you pursue that. You can contact us online today to get free adoption information now.

Meanwhile, continue reading to learn five crucial steps you can take to prepare for foster care, international or domestic transracial adoption.

5 Way to Prepare for Transracial Adoption

Any parenting journey comes with challenges. When you choose transracial adoption, you’ll need to be aware of some of the unique experiences you may have as a multicultural family.

Preparing to become a transracial family takes effort and intentionality. The best thing you can do for your future child is to continually seek out new ways to educate yourself. Here are just a few of the things you should know when completing a transracial adoption.

1. Consider Your Child’s Needs

People of different races sometimes have different physical or medical needs. For example, if you are adopting a Black child, your child will likely have different hair care and skin care needs than you if you aren’t Black. So, you’ll need to do some research to ensure that you can properly provide for your child.

Do not overlook these physical differences; it is important to understand your child’s racial or cultural background and the role that may play in determining their daily needs. There are plenty of adoption resources out there for caring for transracial adoptees.

2. Consider Your Child’s Birth Culture

One of the key transracial adoption issues is helping your child develop a strong sense of racial and cultural identity. Learn about their birth culture and find ways to incorporate aspects of it into your day-to-day life. There are many ways to honor your child’s heritage, including:

• Cooking traditional dishes
• Listening to ethnic or diasporic music
• Celebrating important holidays
• Reading books about your child’s culture
• Providing dolls and other toys that resemble your child
• Learning and speaking your child’s language, if applicable
• Regularly socializing with people who share your child’s heritage

Every child is different, and you should never force a cultural identity on them that they are not interested in. For example, many transracial adoptees who came to American through international adoption have no memory of their birth culture, and they are uninterested in connecting to a culture they never knew.

But, by providing an opportunity for transracial adoptees to feel connected to their culture, you can help ensure that they develop a strong sense of identity and a positive view of transracial adoption.

3. Consider Social Issues About Race

Unfortunately, your child will likely encounter instances of racism or prejudice. This is something you should talk about early and often — studies show that children begin to recognize race as early as their infancy.

That means you need a game plan. How will you prepare them for experiences when race comes into play?

You will need to be comfortable confronting these issues head-on. Be sure to give your child plenty of opportunities to come to you for honest, open discussions about racial issues.

You are also likely to encounter unwelcome questions or comments on the physical differences between you and your child. Make sure that you are prepared to respond to these situations. Also, talk to your child about how to answer questions about their transracial adoption story.

4. Consider Your Community

When you have a multiracial family, it is important to have a supportive community full of people who look like every family member. You’ll want to give your child as many opportunities as possible to interact with other people who share their racial or cultural background.

Surround yourself with people of many different races and cultures. Find racially diverse schools, neighborhoods and extracurricular activities for your children. Maybe find something multicultural that you can all do as a family!

Also search for opportunities to interact with other multiracial families, especially other adoptive families. Transracial adoptees face many unique challenges, and they may benefit from being able to share their stories and feelings with other kids in transracial adoptions.

5. Read Transracial Adoption Blogs

As someone interested in transracial adoption, it could be helpful to learn from other families that have chosen this path. Fortunately, many families also have transracial adoption blogs that may give you and your future child some valuable insights. Here are a few that you can check out:

• Rage Against the Minivan
• My Real Kid
• White Sugar, Brown Sugar

There are many other transracial adoption blogs out there that are worth your time. Be sure to do some research and learn from other families’ experiences to ensure that this is the right path for you.

Find Support

It is important to carefully research transracial adoption issues before deciding what types of adoption opportunities are right for your family. Make a list of the transracial adoption pros and cons, including your own attitudes and understanding of these issues, as you make these important decisions.

Your social worker will be available to help answer your questions and guide you through the transracial adoption process.

FCCA provides extensive pre-adoption training, which includes more information about interracial adoption issues. Also, each of our branch offices has a lending library with plenty of resources for families who would like to learn more.

When you are ready to begin the adoption process or learn more about our adoption services, please contact us to get more free information now. We would love to help you get started on this exciting journey today!