Yesterday, I was at the park with my children. A lady sat down beside me and we started to talk. This lady is from India. (She actually lives very close to me) She was there with her nephew. We began speaking about adoption. (Which is a subject that comes up often) She is 47 and her children are now out of the house in college. She wants to adopt a 5 or 6 year old child.
I told her we were adopting from Ethiopia. She was shocked. Her questions were very thoughtful and honest. She wanted to know how we would handle the race issues that would inevitably arise. In her experience, skin color was a very important factor. She said she'd probably adopt domestically and wanted a child with similar skin color as she had. She didn't think a white child or a child of African heritage would fit into her world, nor would they be accepted. She thought a child of Spanish heritage would be okay because their skin color was similar to Indian skin color. So I answered her questions and we had a nice conversation. I also gave her some sites to start her search into adoption.
Another interesting tidbit was her view on adoption from India. I asked her if she'd investigated India as a possibility for adoption. Since she is Indian, she would be given preference over a non-Indian family. She said that the Indian government would NOT allow her to adopt from India because her husband is from Pakistan.
Just a different (yet same) perspective on color.
#PSA End of School 2019
7 years ago
2 comments:
Everyone didn’t understand when we adopted Anna, why didn’t we adopt a white child. The answer is because my first child was not supposed to be white. God laid that on my heart long ago. Your child doesn’t have to be black for them to deal with race issues, but you already know that.
I hope this gal finds the right child for her family.
Wow, I know that it seems that adoptive families are split on this one. I have heard both opinions several times and I tell ya, I believe that discussions like these do nothing but grow stronger and more informed people. I think it is odd that they won't allow them to adopt from India because of dad's heritage. That must be because of the specific country or something because I have researched that BOTH parents do not need to be Indian in order to get preference in India and adopt successfully. That is interesting.
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