There is a rather inflammatory article being circulated in the adoption community denouncing UNICEF for its stand on transnational adoption.  You can read the original article (“Why I Won’t Buy UNICEF Holiday Cards”) by clicking here.

But be forewarned: you may find yourself indignant at the tone of the article. I do NOT agree with the expressed “anti-UNICEF” position. Ever since I was a kid, when I would go “trick or treating for UNICEF” to collect spare change in one of those black and orange milk carton-like coin boxes, I have supported the work of UNICEF. I just took the time to read their position statement on international adoption for myself. Compared to the way the author of the above-mentioned article made the UNICEF statement sound, I found the actual statement both ethical and courageous. In contrast, the bombastic article comes off as polemical and whiny. It’s hard not to read the first article as the self-righteous outrage of an entitled Westerner whose “privilege” (to adopt whomever and whenever she chooses) is being threatened.

I, for one, support UNICEF’s stance, and the Hague Convention on International Adoptions that their position statement endorses. I admire the courage and moral leadership shown to speak truth to power, and to call out the global adoption industry in support of keeping children and their families connected. I urge readers to read the UNICEF statement, and to perhaps think about “orphans” in a different way, and then act to show your own support by sending UNICEF greeting cards as an act of solidarity and goodwill. You might even want to include a little note that educates your card recipients about the Hague Convention on International Adoption and why you are supporting UNICEF at this time, in solidarity with real adoption reform efforts.

This young man is not unlike many of my earnest, hard-working students next door to Iowa here in Nebraska. Even people in the conservative Heartland of the USA see the basic issues of fairness, especially when they are so eloquently articulated by students like Zach Wahls. Students like these give me hope for the future, and make the work I do–teaching about multiculturalism and family diversity–very rewarding.

Form the website change.org:

Joao Herbert was adopted from Brazil at the age of eight by a family in Ohio. A charge for attempting to sell marijuana, although a first offense, landed him in immigration detention, after which he was deported to Brazil in 2000. Joao Herbert was murdered in Brazil in May 2004.

Korean adoptee Matthew Scherer learned he lacked citizenship when he applied for a U.S. passport. He subsequently obtained permanent resident status, but upon traveling to Korea was identified by the Korean government by his original Korean name and now is blocked by Korean law from returning to the U.S. and threatened with conscription into the Korean army.

Jennifer Haynes was adopted at eight from India and sexually abused by her adoptive father, after which she passed through 50 foster homes on her way to adulthood. Married to a U.S. citizen and mother of two young children, Haynes was nonetheless deported to India in 2008.

Adopted as a toddler from Thailand in 1979 by a family in Florida, John Gaul completed a sentence for theft and check fraud in 1996 after the new immigration law went into effect. A judge was prevented under the new law from acknowledging adoption as an extenuating circumstance, and he was deported to Thailand in 1999.

Tatiana Mitrohina was born in Russia in 1978 with physical deformities that led to her adoption at fourteen to California. She suffered from childhood-related PTSD and postpartum depression. Following a charge of abuse of her son, the court recommended counseling and medication, but Immigration and Customs Enforcement have detained her in preparation for deportation.

“Information was eye-opening and concerning, definitely made me think.”

“This topic deserves more time to cover.”

“We are mid-western/excepting real issues can’t be understood.”

“Not enough time was given to audience commentary or discussion.  He seems angry.  Some placements with foster children are immediate without looking at race; We need to balance that with offering experiences for all cultures and races.  This is Omaha, Nebraska – not all black placements can be with black families, we don’t have an unlimited number of foster homes.”

“Transracial parents-thought provoking to see his perspective.”

“Great speaker! I appreciate his honesty and his knowledge.”

“I liked this guy a lot.  We need more guys like this at these conferences.  Very exciting and easy for me to stay focused.  Only negative is that John seems a little angry about what happened in the past.”

“This is huge for us.  We are fostering Native American kids under the age of 2.  We haven’t even considered these issues.  Much to think about.”

“Very good and true information, something we all need to keep in mind when adopting.”

“Great thoughts. Really got me thinking.”

“Was good but seems he has a lot of resentment still for being raised in a transracial family.”

“I expected this to be the least relevant part of the day for me.  Instead, I got useful information for potential future placements, but also it opened my eyes to how many transracial families there are around me and how to better support and help them in their parenting.”

“Even thought I understand what Dr Raible was presenting, I really felt angry that I was stereotyped because a child of color was placed in my home and I came to love that child and chose to raise a child of color.  I would not be able to afford to move my family to a place where they might be with other people of color.  I do not do this because I want glory – or money.  I do this because I love these children.  I would like to see other people step up for these children.   And now there aren’t enough foster parents for all these children.  If I had seen this movie or heard this lecture I would never have become a foster parent.”

“Very useful information.”

What amazes me is how few parents who hear me speak choose to join me in my “anger.” Apparently, they’d rather attribute my passionate stance about race, adoption, and anti-racism to their diagnosis of “how I was raised” or to my supposed “resentment” towards my adoptive parents.

They choose not to see or hear what I am truly angry about. Why are other parents not as angry as I am about the persistence of racism?

Why are they not angry at the poor preparation of and support for families who take on the huge responsibility of raising vulnerable children?

Why are they not angry at the ongoing second-class treatment of adoptees and foster youth?

Why are they not angry at the racism that kids of color are exposed to on a daily basis?

Why are they not angry that 50 years into the transracial experiement, transracially placed children in 2011 STILL experience the same racial isolation that children were forced to endure in previous decades, especially when kids are expected to integrate all-white communities all by themselves?

Why are they not angry that the Indian Child Welfare Act is too often blatantly ignored so that Native kids end up being placed in hostile situations with non-Natives?

Why are they not outraged that so many kids of color end up “in need” of adoption and rescue in the first place?

The sense of urgency I feel propels me to keep going. I’ve never been about trying to win some popularity contest with adoptive parents. I’ve always been about trying to educate anyone who will listen about the complex intersections of race and adoption. Being the bearer of bad tidings, being assigned the task of sounding the much-needed wake-up call, is not exactly fun or rewarding. I continue to do this serious and dreary job because I care about children, particularly vulnerable children of color.

What makes it so challenging, in part, is the predictable wall of denial I encounter everywhere I go. The wall of denial is usually coupled with the smug certainty that the “white way” is the right way. The smugness of unexamined white superiority leads to a kind of sanctimonious arrogance that tends to deny the reality of racism and white privilege. It makes the message of critical transracial adoptees like me nearly impossible to be heard.

This same arrogance allowed an adoptive father in the audience to dismiss my message about the importance of joining a community where people look like adopted children of color. After telling us how he felt called to adopt a little girl from Africa, he stated proudly that “Jesus will be my child’s role model.” It was fascinating to watch as nobody challenged him or offered a different perspective. I guess they were waiting to see me poke holes in his blissful ignorance all by myself. But that would have looked and sounded too angry, and I wasn’t going to give them the satisfaction. So I thanked the dad for his comment and moved on. I’ve learned through experience that some people you just can’t argue with.

Yet if we fail to connect the dots between race issues and adoption issues, too many transracial parents will be left in the dark clinging to sentimental color-blind fantasies that leave children at risk and unsupported. I refuse to stand idly by knowing that many children will suffer due to the inadequate preparation of their ignorant though well-meaning parents. And so I continue to speak out, when invited, and to share what I’ve learned as a scholar and as an adoptive parent, former foster child, and adoptee.

Clearly, Orphans, we have a lot of work to do. The struggle continues, and I am always looking for another ally.

You can download the report by clicking here.

According to the website, Guatemala sent nearly as many of its children out of the country as China did in one year (2007) despite being so much smaller in population. Put another way, one out of every 110 children born in Guatemala was adopted to the United States.

If you care about adoption fraud and the ethics of transnational adoption, you should be reading sites like this (click on the link), especially since they are independent voices that are NOT part of the global adoption industry.

Oct. 20: Social workers training. Worcester, Massachusetts.

Oct. 22: Workshops for adoptive parents at UMOJA 2011: A Black Heritage Experience. Green Lake , Wisconsin.

Oct. 29: Transracial adoption class for Nebraska Foster & Adoptive Parents Association. Gretna, Nebraska.

Nov.12: Transracial Adoption conference sponsored by Vista Del Mar Child & Family Services. Los Angeles, California. Also presenting will be Pact’s Beth Hall and Dr. Joseph Crumbley.

Jan. 2012: Guest lecture on race and adoption. University of Bergen, Norway.

Perhaps I will see you in Wisconsin, California, Massachusetts, or even in Bergen, Norway…

In trying to counter the public perception of adoption as being “all about kids”—and the idea of adoptees as Perpetual Children that are never allowed to grow up—I felt like I should just use images of myself in adulthood. After all, adulthood is where adoptees spend our lives once childhood ends, and adoption and race STILL affect us in significant ways.

The first image is a still from the film “Struggle for Identity: Issues in Transracial Adoption.” Several people came up to me at the recent NACAC conference and thanked me for being in that movie. One person pointed out how many thousands of individuals have watched the film and learned from it. So, since many people associate me with that movie, I used the still (the one with the long curly hair back in 1995).

The second headshot was taken when I became a professor at UNL. Using this one symbolizes that I am no longer just another adoptee “telling my story.” Rather, I have become a serious researcher and scholar of adoption and race.

The two slides are from my July 2011 webinar on “Adoptees and Parents, Adoptees as Parents.” They represent my latest thinking about what’s wrong with transracial adoption. My analysis includes a discussion of oppression theory, and the way that all transracial adoptees are triply oppressed—through racism, adultism (the oppression of children and youth), and adoptee oppression (being treated as second class citizens without equal access to information and our histories, for example).

This triple whammy of oppression makes it extremely challenging for adult transracial adoptees to be heard, especially if we articulate a sharp critique of adoption and call for anti-racist action for transracial adoptees and communities of color. As Perpetual Children, adult adoptees can choose to side with children and youth to fight adultism. After all, as kids, most adoptees have no say in whether to be adopted, or whether to leave our original families and communities. We have no say about where we will grow up. As a result of this disempowerment and dependency, transracial adoptees live at the whim and mercy of often under-prepared and ignorant families, who, sadly, are  usually not in any position to help us navigate the complex race or adoption issues we inevitably face.

I have come to believe that the liberation of children and youth is a necessary component in any struggle to reform (or ultimately abolish) adoption. This means, first, that children must never be bought and sold. Next, whenever possible, young people MUST have a say in placement decisions when adoption becomes necessary. Remember,  adoption is a response to a crisis. Adoption should be primarily about finding safe homes for children in dire need, and NOT used as a  convenient solution for adults (for their infertility, family-building desires, or to get rid of unwanted pregnancies). Placing adoptees front and center will not happen without the liberation of children and youth (hence my call for “kid lib, an idea whose time has come”).

Working to dismantle adultism that keeps young people powerless and infantilized means sharing power with the young. It also means fighting patronizing adultist views that try to keep all adoptees in a child-like state as Perpetual Children.

Children, youth, and adult transracial adoptees are natural allies, then, as long as adult adoptees strive to incorporate social justice (and specifically anti-adultist and anti-racist) values into our work and practice. Young adoptees of color should have a say in where they go to school, what religion they follow (if any), what nation’s citizenship they claim (if adopted transnationally), and even where they will live as children and as adolescents.

The kind of community—monocultural and all-white versus multicultural and integrated—can make or break the spirits of transracial adoptees. Racial isolation and imposed segregation are wrong. Children of color adopted into white families, whether through domestic adoption or transnational adoption, deserve the support and understanding of adults of color who look like them and who share their cultural and racial designation. Transracial adoption is NOT about fulfilling the fantasies and desires of white adoptive parents. Transracial adoption MUST be about fully supporting adopted youth of color, who are already burdened enough with the twin tasks of navigating race and adoption. It’s high time that adoptive families stepped up and educated themselves on how to better support family members who are people of color, and who are doubly oppressed as adoptees.

This is what this blog is about: supporting the transracial adoption community through education and research. And even though I have paid a huge price  in speaking out to educate non-adoptees about transracial adoption, and to critique transracial adoption over the years, this is what my life’s work continues to be about: fighting so that younger transracial adoptee voices can be heard, fighting to empower transracial adoptees, and working to ease the triple threat of racism, adultism, and adoptee oppression.

I am no longer willing to put my needs for safety and protection aside by putting my brown queer body into potentially hostile environments. I am no longer willing to make myself available for the public scrutiny, questioning, amusement, curiosity, comfort, and entertainment of others who don’t look like me. I am no longer willing to stifle conversation about topics that matter to me—race, adoption, racism, oppression, homophobia, heterosexism, white supremacy, patriarchy, sexism, classism, adultism, youth liberation, and social justice.

I am no longer willing to let others define the topic of conversation because it too often results in my marginalization and invisibility. I am no longer willing to tolerate racist comments and ignorant perspectives about the communities I belong to. I am no longer willing to take care of dominant individuals as they squirm in discomfort when my mere presence agitates them. I am no longer willing to subsume my needs for respect and acceptance, for freedom. I am no longer willing to hide who I am. I am no longer willing to censor my voice. I am no longer willing to put up with the fear and resentment of others who have more power than me, and whose privilege comes at my expense.

I hereby pledge to be true to myself and to ALL of who I am. I pledge to speak my truth, and to flaunt my identities. I pledge to insist on safety, inclusion, and respect for myself and all people who look like me, and who share my experience of marginalization. I pledge to demand social justice in all my spheres of influence, and to call on allies to expand the social circle so that I do not have to be the ONLY ONE present. If you know me and value my participation at social events, get used to it. If you cant’ stand it, if you cannot help me honor this pledge, then we can’t be in coalition together. If you can’t tolerate these basic demands, these essential human rights, then we are no longer in relationship to each other. This I pledge to myself and to my fellow transracial adoptees. This I pledge because racial isolation and segregation are wrong. This I pledge because multiculturalism is the future, and it begins now. This I pledge because I am worth it. This I pledge because we have suffered long enough.