Event

Webinar: Should We Adopt Transracially? Are We Ready? What Should We Do to Prepare?

Start time/date:	Oct  20, 2021 11:00 AM
End time/date:	Oct  20, 2021 12:30 PM
Place:	Webinar Call-In Instructions Will Be Emailed After Registration

Should We Adopt Transracially?

Are We Ready? What Should We Do to Prepare?

Considering transracial adoption begins with asking oneself the question: What is your motivation. Is it focused on what your child would need or your own desire or need to become a parent? Transracially adopting parents (parents adopting across racial lines) are better prepared to be successful if they are educated in advance about race, racism and how these issues will play out in the context of a family in which children and parents do not share the same racial identity. Even when they know race matters, many families, especially white adults, have questions about whether or not to be colorblind in a “postracial” context in order to avoid the pain and possible damage of racism. Preparing others for a racialized life begins with honesty about your own navigation of your personal racial landscape.

In this webinar, we’ll explore how to offer realistic support to transracial foster and adoptive parents. This workshop will utilize Pact’s federally funded self-assessment tool, Below the Surface, that enables families to assess where they stand by calculating their own Transracial Adoption Suitability Index. We’ll offer suggestions about how to promote racial pride in ways that acknowledge the realities of racism and the impact of white supremacy on us all. Together, we’ll explore how transracial adoption outcomes are impacted by parent personality, attitudes, lifestyle and knowledge and offer practical exercises that can help families move forward.

Appropriate for both parents considering transracial adoption or early in their transracial parenting journey as well as professionals working with transracial adopters.

Participants will be able to:

• Describe four types of racism and understand how they impact adults and children.

• Explain the difference between race, culture and ethnicity.
• Give examples of privilege and how it applies in the context of transracial adoption.
• Identify stereotypes, cultural appropriation and microaggressions relevant to adopted children of color.
• Explain how race matters in adoption.
• Assess their own growth areas and where they need to be stretched in terms of their own personality, attitude, lifestyle and knowledge.

Instructor/Panel:Beth Hall

Experience: Beth Hall is an adoption educator who, co-founded Pact, An Adoption Alliance, which is a multicultural adoption organization dedicated to addressing essential issues affecting adopted children of color. Pact offers lifelong support and placement services for birth and adoptive families with adopted kids of color. A national speaker, she is also the author of numerous articles and a book, Inside Transracial Adoption, which is filled with personal stories, practical suggestions, and theory, and delivers the message that race matters, racism is alive, and families built transracially can develop strong and binding ties.

Pricing Description:

$36 per person non-member

Special price Pact members receive 25% discount.

Please choose carefully when registering for Pact events. Pact is not in a position to refund workshop or event registration fees.