Trainings

Adoption Support Alliance

The Adoption Support Alliance offers an Adoption 101 course designed for anyone considering growing their family through adoption. The class discusses different aspects surrounding adoption, including the logistics of both domestic and international adoption, how to deal with grief and trauma, birth family relationships, and more. The ASA also offers classes on ‘Race, Culture & Adoption’ and ‘Adoption Training for Church Communities.’

Birth Family Search

Off and Running (2009)

Avery, an African-American adoptee and track star with white Jewish lesbians for parents and two other adopted siblings begins to become more curious about her roots. Her curiosity about her African-American heritage grows and she decides to contact her birth mother. Avery’s life turns into a crisis and struggles over her “true” identity, her isolation from Black culture, and the circumstances of her adoption.

Birth Family Search

Blue Bayou (2021)

A Korean-American man raised in the Louisiana bayou works hard to make ends meet for his family. However, he must confront ghosts of his past when he discovers he could be deported from the US and sent back to South Korea.

Birth Family Search

Lion (2016)

The extraordinary birth search family based on a true story. When a little boy from India gets lost on a train and taken thousands of miles away from home gets adopted by an Australian couple. With his unforgettable memories, his determination, and the online technology Google Earth, 25 years later Saroo sets out to find his first home.

Race Education

The Seattle Times: “Adoption across races: ‘I know my parents love me, but they don’t love my people’”

“Adoptee Angela Tucker discusses how she felt like a racial impostor growing up. She explains that she may have looked Black, but didn’t feel that way.”

Media

White Sugar Brown Sugar

A blog by a Christian mom about her adopted children. Although she doesn’t disclose names or faces out of respect, she describes her adoptions as domestic, transracial, and open

Media

NCFA: “Positive Practices in Transracial Adoption Parenting”

“In the article, an adoptee suggests parents bring up the topic of adoption first and work with their children to understand their feelings.”

Media

American Adoptions: “4 Unique Challenges Faced By Transracial Adoptees”

“An article on American Adoptions that examines 4 challenges that many adoptees will have to face (also included in race education).”

Race Education

NACAC: “Transracial Adoption: Love is Just the Beginning”

“A first person perspective by Deb Reisner (North American Council on Adoptable Children member), mother to a family with a blend of African American, Native American, Latino, and European American races and cultures. She details the importance of listening to her children about their experiences with racism and family methods of externalizing racism.”

Media

NPR: “A Mother Reflects On Privilege, Adoption And Parenting ‘Without Perfection'”

“NPR 37 minute listen as a white mom reflects on her life raising two adopted Black children and two biological white children, and how she became aware of her own white privilege. She also has a blog called Rage Against the Minivan.”

Resources