Transracial

Adoptee

Black Baby White Hands: A View From the Crib
Jaiya John
(Add to Book Bag)

Dr. John was separated from his mother at birth, placed into foster care, adopted by a White family, and reunited with his biological family in adulthood; an astounding journey of personal discovery.

 

Transracial and Inracial Adoptees: The Adolescent Years
Ruth McRoy


(Not available for checkout, in-office use only)

This book describes the experiences of black adolescents who, at a very young age, were adopted either transracially (by white families) or inracially (by black families). It is based on the first study of transracial adoptees that uses a comparison group of inracial adoptees and the first study examines, both from the parents' and the adoptees' perspective, the circumstances of black children who have grown to adolescence as transracial adoptees.

 

Adult

Adoption Across Borders: Serving the Children in Transracial and Intercountry Adoptions
Rita Simon
(Add to Book Bag)

For over thirty years, the authors have been studying transracial and intercountry adoptions. ADOPTION ACROSS BORDERS summarizes their findings and compares them with the results of other studies. It is an invaluable source of data on these adoptions and the attitudes toward them. Throughout, this book advocates and demonstrates the positive effects of adoption for the adoptee.

 

Below the Surface: A Self-evaluative Guide for Anyone Considering or Participating in an Adoption Across Racial or Cultural Lines
Beth Hall
(Add to Book Bag)

This tool is designed to help you guage your own experience and abilities to meet the challenges of transracial (or transcultural) adoption. The goal is to give you some measures by which to judge your own comfort with the issues parents face when adopting across racial lines.

 

Beyond the Whiteness of Whiteness: Memoir of a White Mother of Black Sons
Jane Lazarre
(Add to Book Bag)

I am Black, Jane Lazarre's son tells her. "I have a Jewish mother, but I am not 'biracial.' That term is meaningless to me". She understands, she says - but he tells her, gently, that he doesn't think so, that she can't understand this completely because

 

Birthmarks: Transracial Adoption in Contemporary America
Sandra Patton
(Add to Book Bag)

Can white parents teach their black children African-American culture and theory? Can they impart to them the survival skills necessary in the racially stratified United States? Through in-depth interviews with adult transracial adoptees, as well as with social workers in adoption agencies, BIRTHMARKS explores the social construction of race, identity, gender, family, and the way the public thinks about adoption.

 

Crossing the Colorline: Race, Parenting, and Culture
Maureen Reddy
(Add to Book Bag)

"This is the first book in American literature that systematically, personally, with depth and courage, explores whiteness. It is written by a white woman whose children and husband are Black, and far from presuming some easy identification from this personal history, her love for them becomes the ground on which her own search, education, and ultimately transformation, built….The voice of the mother, the teacher, and literary critic, the white Ameican-all merge in this original and unique autobiographical narrative of a woman's life. This book signals the beginning of a new and absolutely necessary moment of consciousness for all white Americans."-Jane Lazarre

 

In Their Own Voices: Transracial Adoptees Tell Their Stories
Rita Simon
(Add to Book Bag)

How did being adopted transracially affect their lives through childhood and into adulthood? How did their family experiences influence their racial and social identities, their choice of friends and marital partners, and their lifestyles? IN THEIR OWN VOICES collects the results of interviews conducted with black and biracial young adults who were adopted as children by white parents. Their personal stories bring an insider's viewpoint to the issues of transracial adoption.

 

Inside Transracial Adoption
Gail Steinberg
(Add to Book Bag)

Using a careful blend of academic research, social reality, and personal experience, INSIDE TRANSRACIAL ADOPTION provides creative, confident, pro-active, and provocative guidance both for prospective parents who are considering transracial adoption for the first time and also for those who are experienced veterans. This book offers direction for building close, loving, and very real families consisting of individuals who are proud and culturally competent members of differing races.

 

Loving Across the Color Line
Sharon Rush
(Add to Book Bag)

What more could a liberal, white, civil rights law professor learn about the experiences of African Americans? Plenty. In this moving, heartfelt memoir of a mother and daughter's loving relationship, the author describes how her eyes were opened to the harsh realities of the American racial divide. Only by living with her daughter through day-to-day encounters did she learn that racism is far more devastating to blacks than most whites can ever imagine. Everyone would benefit from reading LOVING ACROSS THE COLOR LINE, but anyone involved with transracial adoptions must read it.

 

Of Many Colors
Peggy Gillespie
(Add to Book Bag)

Based on an award-winning photo exhibit, this book documents the feelings and experiences of Americans who live in multiracial families. OF MANY COLORS tells the stories of thirty-nine families who have bridged the racial divide through adoption or interracial marriage. In these pages, parents and children speak candidly about their lives, their relationships, and the ways in which they have dealt with issues of race. This coffee-table book is the perfect gift to help others appreciate your diverse family.

 

Our Native American Child
Carolyn Flanders McPherson
(Add to Book Bag)

This book is one in a series of books based on adoption in different religious communities. This guidebook is an introduction to adoption as it touches our Native American children today.

 

Struggle For Identity - Issues in Transracial Adoption
PhotoSynthesie Productions
(Add to Book Bag)

A powerful video for adoptive & foster parents & the professionals who work with them.

 

Transracial Adoption and Foster Care: Practice Issues for Professionals
Joseph Crumbley
(Add to Book Bag)

The goal of TRANSRACIAL ADOPTION AND FOSTER CARE is to provide professionals, agencies, and organizations with the information they need to better serve the needs of transracial families. Section One describes how to introduce families to racial and cultural issues. Section Two concentrates on providing services to transracial families, including training preparation, and case management. The third section addresses a variety of professional concerns such as staff attitudes and recruitment. Any professional involved with transracial adoption needs to read this book.

 

Transracial Adoptive Parenting A Black/White Community Issue
Leora Neal
(Add to Book Bag)

This booklet offers an overview of African American children in the child welfare system. The authors are concerned that adoptive families see the total child, recognize the importance of preserving and respecting the childs culture of origin, and prepare their children to deal with racial and ethnic prejudices. They identify obstacles facing those adopted transracially and strategies parents may use for meeting those obstacles.

 

Yellow: Race in America Beyond Black and White
Frank H. Wu
(Add to Book Bag)

Wu suggests that the widespread stereotyping of Asian Americans, while "superficially positive," is inherently damaging. Mixing personal anecdotes, current events, academic studies, and court cases, Wu not only debunks the myth of a "model minority" but also makes discomfiting observations about attitudes toward affirmative action, what he calls "rational" discrimination, mixed marriages, racial profiling, and the "false divisions" of integration versus pluralism and assimilation versus multiculturalism.

 

Children

A Mother For Choco
Keiko Kasza
(Add to Book Bag)

Choco is looking for his mother. He's sure that she must look just like him—yellow feathers, big round cheeks, wings and striped feet. But all the animals he meets look different than he does. Mrs. Bear doesn't look like Choco, but she does hug, kiss, sing and dance with him. Most importantly, though, she loves him dearly. Together they realize that she is the perfect MOTHER FOR CHOCO.

 

All the Colors We Are
Katie Kissinger
(Add to Book Bag)

This English/Spanish book showcases the beautiful diversity of human skin color by using outstanding full-color photographs. It offers young children a simple, scientifically accurate explanation for how we get our skin color.

 

Brown Like Me
Noelle Lamperti
(Add to Book Bag)

Noelle is a girl who likes brown. She is an African American girl with brown skin while her parents are Caucasian and have lighter-colored skin. She likes to find things that are "BROWN LIKE ME." So she searches high and low for anything and everything brown ... brownies and boots, goats and leaves, peanut butter and a violin. This is a delightful book about families, diversity, love, and being "strong brown." It is an absolute must for parents who want to show their child just how beautiful brown can be.

 

David's Father
Robert Munsch
(Add to Book Bag)

When David moved to the neighborhood, Julie was afraid of David's father because he was a giant. David, who was adopted, is not a giant and looks like a regular kid. When Julie got to know David's father, she found out he was very nice after all, but still kind of scary. A hilarious story written from the point of view of the adopted child who has to explain to the work about his strange parents.

 

Horace
Holly Keller


(Not available for checkout, in-office use only)

HORACE is unhappy because his family is striped, but he is spotted. (They are animals, not unusual looking people.) So off he goes to find a family that looks more like he does. Though he enjoys playing with them, he soon realizes that being a family has nothing to do with the pattern (or the color, for humans) of your skin. At day's end, he is ready to be back with his own family. This charming, full color picture book will enchant your entire family.

 

I'm Brown and My Sister Isn't
Robbie O'Shea
(Add to Book Bag)

Written froma child's straightforward viewpoint, this book describes differences in children and sibling relationships with simple text and cute illustrations. Parents and young children will be drwan in bye the non judgmenatl and light hearted dicussion of race and family.

 

Is That Your Sister?
Catherine Bunin
(Add to Book Bag)

Catherine is a member of a multiracial family. Her friends often ask her questions about her family, especially her sister. Many of the questions center on her sister's physical appearance. Catherine talks about these questions and how she has answered them. With its matter-of-fact tone, IS THAT YOUR SISTER? is a perfect book for the child who is beginning to ask, and be asked, questions about adoption.

 

Jamaica & Brianna
Juanita Havill
(Add to Book Bag)

Peer approval and the need for good communication are the themes of this quietly appealing story. Like many younger siblings, Jamaica is often stuck wearing hand-me-downs, in this case, her big brother's ``old gray boots.'' After her friend Brianna makes fun of Jamaica for wearing ``boy boots,'' the resourceful heroine enlarges a hole in the toe of one of the offending galoshes, thus speeding up the need for a trip to the shoe store. When Jamaica returns to school, resplendent in a brand-new pair of cowboy boots, Brianna is once again ready with a put-down. Hurt, Jamaica retaliates with a remark about Brianna's own footwear.

 

Lucys Family Tree
Karen Schreck
(Add to Book Bag)

When Lucy receives a homework assignment to make a family tree, she thinks that because she was adopted from Mexico, her family is too "different." However, when her parents challenge her to find a "typical" family, she realizes that all families are unique. She finds an original way to finish her project that celebrates her past as well as her present. LUCY'S FAMILY TREE will help children explore what really makes a family. It also includes an appendix for parents (and teachers!) that provide suggestions for handling this common school activity.

 

We're Different, We're the Same
Bobbi Kates
(Add to Book Bag)

Using the familiar Sesame Street Muppets and people, We're Different, We're the Same illustrates how different we are as individuals, yet how alike we are as people (or Muppets, as the case may be). For example, there is a page showing many different eyes. The next page shows how these eyes are the same because they can all see, blink, weep and wink.

 

Parenting

Kids Talk Hair: An Instruction Book for Grown-Ups & Kids
Pamela Ferrell
(Add to Book Bag)

An instruction book that explains how to care for kids' hair, ranging from newborns to teenagers. It's a fun, easy-to-read book written for both grown-ups and kids. Most of the left-hand pages are for young readers and right-hand pages are for grown-ups and older kids. Beautiful color photos of African-American children showing variety of hairstyles.

 

[Top]