From the category archives:

Claiming

Happy Holidays

December 17, 2011

Everyone is home. Just this week I took two days off to pick my oldest up from college and bring him home (along with a special young lady).
It is difficult to explain the joy in having us all together.  I feel, well…, almost giddy. Our family feels more settled, content and accepting of the changes that [...]

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Preparing School-Aged Siblings

October 12, 2011

“Is _______’s other mommy sad?”
This was the question from my son, then age six, just days after we arrived home with our daughter—his sister. My son was overjoyed and oh-so-proud of his baby sister. Prior to her arrival home (and still to this day) he learned vast amounts of information and embraced her birth culture [...]

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Pass It On

February 17, 2011

Many outside the transracial family’s inner and closely related outer circle don’t see a family. They see mismatched adults and children, typically white parents and non-white kids. On top of that, even in today’s efforts to be “politically correct,” many people miss the mark by making insensitive comments or asking intrusive questions, although sometimes well-meaning, [...]

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“Real”

February 3, 2011

So… What is “REAL?”
Merriam-Webster defines real as, “not artificial, fraudulent, or illusory; occurring or existing in actuality; of or relating to practical or everyday concerns or activities; existing as a physical entity and having properties that deviate from an ideal, law, or standard.”
“On Real Parents,” a recent post on Grown in My Heart, contributor Jessica [...]

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Reflections: Ten Years

December 7, 2010

Note: I write this post with my “parent hat” on, instead of my “educator hat—” although that hat is always with me…
2010 has is only weeks away from being over. We move into a new decade, full of hope opportunity and promise. This year I again filled out a census for our family. In doing [...]

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How to Help Your Child Process the Past

October 21, 2010

Adoptive parents are very good about painting the rosy picture—how they came to be families, how they love their children. Parents do this to claim their children. The also do this because as an adoptive family they are in the position of having to validate their family to extended family, friends and strangers. But often, [...]

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