White Canadians adopt US African Americans

[janette]

Originally posted by Laura
What made me angriest, though, was that there is such a lack of people willing to take on African-American children that the agency I worked at charged less in fees for an AA baby. If the baby was Asian, Hispanic, Native American, Caucasian or any combination of those, the regular fees applied. But if the baby was full or half African-American, the fees were halved. I guess it's because the other races look "whiter".

I have a friend that adopted a bi-racial little boy. She also mentioned that the fees were discounted. While it did help them financially it just appalled her to think that it seemed like a value was being placed on children.

There was little question for them, her DH's step-father was AA so his brothers were bi-racial. It worked very well for their family and their son is adorable. I think they would have adopted more but her DH now has some medical problems that would make it difficult.

They also adopted fairly quickly, they took him home from the hospital and were able to meet the birth mother.

There are children available for adoption here but that might not be an answer for everyone. The only statements that bother me are the ones that say there are not children needing homes here. There are but many of them do have special needs, not everyone is able to meet that challenge.

However a family is brought together doesn't really matter, all families are special whether by birth, local or international adoption.

 

[Micheme]

I felt I had to post being an adoptive parent.

I feel this article has some good points in that it will make people more aware of adoption but I do have some problems with it's generalities surrounding international adoption.

There are so many factors that come into play when a family decides to adopt and from where. The decision and process is lengthy and difficult. Only the family can decide what is right for them and go from there.

Many factors contributed to why I adopted internationally and it is what was right for my family. The process was filled with joy, sadness, difficulties and triumphs. The perception that I wanted to adopt a child that "looked like me" is demeaning to my family and what we will have to face as an inter-racial family. My daughter is Chinese she does not look like me and we are reminded of that every day. We have educated ourselves in what she will face in the future, her culture, telling her about her birth parents and her homeland.

Please take an opportunity to learn more about adoption whether domestic or international. This is just my 2 cents on this subject.

 

[Micheme]

I've been rethinking my statement

"The perception that I wanted to adopt a child that "looked like me" is demeaning to my family and what we will have to face as an inter-racial family."

I think the term i should use is disheartening. Sorry if it offended.

 

[LisaZoe]

I won't presume to try to speak for others, Micheme, but I took no offense by your original comment. In return, I hope no one took offense by anything I wrote. I guess, to try to put this more succinctly, I was just trying to point out that I think many people who adopt internationally aren't always aware of the need and availability of children for adoption within the US. This is a generalization and, as such, has many exceptions.

To me any decision about adoption, private vs. public, open vs. closed, international vs. US, etc., is a very personal choice and no one should try to say your choice was wrong. There are many factors that each person must consider to even reach a decision to adopt let alone what path to take toward the adoption. The beautiful thing about each is that the vast majority lead to happiness.

<I>Edited to add:</I> PS - I love to see and hear about other transracial families no matter what races are in "the mix".

 

[luvthatduke]

I'm so glad to read about adoption on these boards.

We adopted DS at birth (I was right there, and
cut the cord for DH as he had to be out in the
waiting room).
DS is bi-racial and beautiful.
DH & I are caucasion.
Because I have brown eyes, you cannot
believe how many strangers come up to me
and say, "You've been cloned." TOO funny!

Now that he is growing out of babyhood (sigh...)
he looks less like me (hair is very curly now),
and believe it or not it's AA children that
give DH & I "looks." It's very interesting when
we go out... We notice the children doing
it very frequently.

I did want to say that our experience provided
some explanation on the fees for the
different programs offered by adoption agencies.
It costs some agencies MUCH LESS in the long
run to find and place AA or bi-racial (1/2 AA) babies,
compared to advertising/finding/placing
(and finalizing with no interruption) a caucasion newborn.

And yes, the IRS offers a $10,000 credit to anyone
who adopts domestically in the USA. It is spread over
5 years if you don't normally pay that much
on your income taxes.

I'd love to put a pic or two of DS on my posts,
but I haven't figured out how! I'll have to look into it.