African/African American Adoption and Identity

Please find some of our best articles, essays and reviews on this topic.

For more topics and articles, check out our full listing on our Resource Library.

African American children and all members of the African diaspora are underserved in the world of adoption. These articles include information about African American placement, stories of African American birth parents, adoptees and adoptive parents, as well as information about healthy self-esteem and suggestions for how to support African American children and youth. Topics include hair care, dealing with racism, school issues, and book reviews.

If you prefer, you can use our Library Search Tool to search by title or author. All the material in this section is copyrighted by Pact; for permission to reproduce or re-post it, please contact us at education@pactadopt.org.

• A Bill of Rights for Mixed Folks?
  by Marilyn Blake Dramé (1996 | 125 KB | )
  
• Address to Teachers - An African American Parent’s Perspective
  by Kimberly Rockwell (1997 | 113 KB | )
  
• ADHD and African American Children
  by Willie B. Garrett (1996 | 96 KB | )
  
• Adopted Person Profile - Race And My Family
  by Liza Steinberg (1997 | 96 KB | )
  
• Adoption, Race and Where’s the Hairbrush?
  by Lisa Lerner (2008 | 117 KB | )
  
• African American perceptions of Adoption
  by Azzizi Powell (1997 | 88 KB | )
  
• All of Nathan’s Family
  by Pamela, Barbara, Suzanne & John (1997 | 91 KB | )
  
• An Opposing View - Biracial Census Status Would Hurt Our Status
  by Joe Madison (1998 | 96 KB | )
  
• …and the Beat Goes On
  by Gail Steinberg (1999 | 277 KB | )
  
• Ask Pact: African or African American?
  by Lisa Marie Rollins (2008 | 123 KB | )
  
• Ask Pact: Black Hair and the Politics of Beauty
  by Lisa Marie Rollins (2008 | 380 KB | )
  
• Ask Pact: Hair Is an Adoption Issue
  by Pact (2005 | 467 KB | )
  
• Ask Pact: Hip Hop
  by Pact (2006 | 341 KB | )
  
• Ask Pact: How Do We Choose the Best School?
  by Pact (2004 | 115 KB | )
  
• Ask Pact: Mom, What?s the N-word?
  from Pact Chat Group (2008 | 168 KB | )
  
• Ask Pact: My Child Wants To Be White
  by Pact (2007 | 101 KB | )
  
• Ask Pact: Our Son Doesn’t Mind Being The Only Only
  by Lisa Marie Rollins (2008 | 104 KB | )
  
• Ask Pact: Responding to Racist Comments from Kids
  by Pact Campers Listserv (2008 | 356 KB | )
  
• Ask Pact: Taking Risks and Making Connections
  by Martha Rynberg (2012 | 127 KB | )
  
• Beyond Black History Month: An Interview with Michael Thompson
  (2011 | 119 KB | )
  
• Beyond Black History Month: An Interview with Michael Thompson
  (2011 | 119 KB | )
  
• Biracial Children and the Emperor’s New Clothes
  by Gail Steinberg (1992 | 311 KB | )
  
• Black Rainbows
  by Jana Wolff (1995 | 301 KB | )
  
• Black, White Asian Moving Beyond Our Own Racial Boundaries
  by Amy Klatzkin (2005 | 92 KB | )
  
• Book Review: Can We Talk about Race?
  by Beverly Daniel Tatum (2008 | 90 KB | )
  
• Book Review: I Bet She Called Me Sugar Plum
  by Joanne Gabbin (2004 | 73 KB | )
  
• Book Review: I’m Chocolate, You’re Vanilla
  by Marguerite Wright (2006 | 85 KB | )
  
• Book Review: In Their Parents’ Voices
  by Rita Simon and Rhonda Roorda  (2006 | 104 KB | )
  
• Book Review: In Their Siblings’ Voices
  by Rita Simon and Rhonda Roorda (2009 | 89 KB | )
  
• Book Review: Why Can’t You Look Like Me?
  by Ola Zuri (2010 | 525 KB | )
  
• Brown Babies, Pink Parents: A Practical Guide to Transracial Parenting
  by Amy Ford, Reviewed by Shannon Riehle (2011 | 101 KB | )
  
• Building Racial Identity
  by J. Todd Chas (1997 | 96 KB | )
  
• Can White People Nurture Black Kids Effectively?
  by RoAnne Elliot (1998 | 111 KB | )
  
• Climbing Mount Adoption
  by Shane Salter (1992 | 320 KB | )
  
• Daughter-in-Law’s Tale - Race and Class
  by Michele Rabkin (2007 | 113 KB | )
  
• Dealing with Racism
  by Beth Hall (2012 | 0 KB | )
  
• Dealing with Racism: Perspective of a White Transracial Adoptive Parent
  by Beth Hall (2012 | 163 KB | )
  
• Director’s Corner: INSPIRATION -- in Capital Letters, Visiting Historically Black Colleges
  by Beth Hall (2008 | 120 KB | )
  
• Family Resemblance in Transracial Adoption
  by Jana Wolff (1998 | 329 KB | )
  
• Family Stories: Black Enough To Be Your Mother? Too White To Be Your Mother? Becoming Seneca?s Mothers!
  by Pact (2009 | 147 KB | )
  
• Family Stories: Carnegie & Sons
  by Pact (2009 | 130 KB | )
  
• Family Stories: Eddie Junior: Becoming a Family
  by Pact (2008 | 125 KB | )
  
• Family Stories: I Wish I Could Stay At Pact Camp Forever
  by Martha Rynberg (2007 | 136 KB | )
  
• Family Stories: Surprise Adoption
  by Jill Rege (2008 | 956 KB | )
  
• Family Stories: Surviving Foster Care - A Day with Shane Salter
  Interviewed by Roxanne Agur (1997 | 373 KB | )
  
• Family Stories: While You Wait -- A Chance to Learn & Grow
  by Pact (2010 | 1,011 KB | )
  
• Family Story: Dan O’Brien - The World’s Greatest Athlete - A Transracially Adopted Hero
  Interviewed by Gail Steinberg (1997 | 390 KB | )
  
• I Want You... To End Racism
  by Hazel White (2009 | 322 KB | )
  
• If The Shoe Doesn’t Fit
  by Gail Steinberg (1995 | 131 KB | )
  
• If You’re Color Blind, How Do You See Me?
  by Kevin Hofmann (2012 | 101 KB | )
  
• Mathilde’s Awakening . . . And Mine too.
  by Marie Claude Provencher (2008 | 118 KB | )
  
• My School
  by Fatima Goss (1998 | 93 KB | )
  
• One of Them
  by Kirstin Nelson (2004 | 88 KB | )
  
• Pact’s Position on the Multi-Ethnic and Inter-Ethnic Placement Acts
  by Beth Hall and Gail Steinberg (1997 | 117 KB | )
  
• Racial Politics The ?Business? of Domestic Private Adoption
  by Beth Hall, Joe Kroll and Ruth McRoy (2010 | 308 KB | )
  
• Raising Kids Multiculturally
  by Ann Freeman (1994 | 107 KB | )
  
• Rethinking Fit in the Context of Transracial Adoption
  by Julia Sudbury Oparah (1998 | 60 KB | )
  
• Solidifying Multiracial Culture
  by Rebecca Bibbs (2005 | 103 KB | )
  
• Speaking of Birth Parents
  by Marta Barton and Beth Hall (2000 | 125 KB | )
  
• Teaching Culture Understanding the Complexities
  by Lisa Marie Rollins (2007 | 104 KB | )
  
• Teen Corner: Making Sense of Living Transracially
  by Ryo and Jake (2010 | 53 KB | )
  
• Teen Corner: Psychological Heavy Lifting
  by Lilah Goldthwaite (2008 | 350 KB | )
  
• The Godparents Council
  by Michael-David Sasson and Kirsten Cross (2010 | 122 KB | )
  
• The Issue of Race for Private-School Students of Color
  by Sharon Cravanas Johns (1995 | 110 KB | )
  
• The Making of a Scholar
  by Vera Landry (2008 | 334 KB | )
  
• The Toddler of Color in Daycare
  by Joy Viveros (1994 | 117 KB | )
  
• Union and Transitions: A Ceremony of Entrustment
  by Rebecca Weller (1997 | 346 KB | )
  
• We Are Family
  by Marcia Burnell (1998 | 112 KB | )
  
• What Divides Us is What Connects Us
  by Robin D.G. Kelley (2012 | 132 KB | )
  
• What I Learned from My Daughter’s Self-Portrait
  by Elise Crum (2010 | 0 KB | )
  
• When Racism is Part of the Story
  by Beth Hall & Gail Steinberg (1998 | 128 KB | )
  
• Who Are The Real Parents - Revisiting Extended Family as a Support System for Children in Need of Adoption or Foster Care
  by O. Virginia Phillips (1995 | 111 KB | )
  
• Who Are The Real Parents of American’s Children
  by O. Virginia Phillips (1995 | 109 KB | )
  

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