Not Just “White Parents with Kids of Color”: The Importance of Racial Identity Work for Parents
<p>Discussing multiraciality, transracial adoption, and identity have incited the most heartfelt and passionate debates I have ever witnessed in my professional or personal life. Multiracial families (both adoptive and non-adoptive) and mixed-race people are living symbols, and also walking targets, for some of our most cherished beliefs, our deepest pains, and our desire to ignore, dismantle, or indulge our obsessions with race. Engaging in these discussions can never be fully objective or value-free — they are deeply personal and emotional. I want to acknowledge that reality, while calling for a higher level of complexity and balance in our discussions and practices related to transracial adoption. We need to broaden the focus of our identity concerns to the racial and cultural identities of adoptive parents (rather than just their skills and awareness) as central to the well-being of their children. The ripple effects that emerge from a parent’s own racial and cultural identity work can either inhibit or promote a family identity that is culturally and racially affirming for all family members throughout life.</p>
<p><a href="https://pactadopt.medium.com/not-just-white-parents-with-kids-of-color-the-importance-of-racial-identity-work-for-parents-20a3e3506d8f"><strong>Read More</strong></a></p>