TRA Resources

Below are both transracial adoptee and Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) resources. Please note that not all suggested readings apply exclusively to Independent Schools.

• Critics Rant: Supporting Adopted Students: Parents and Teachers Working Together - Adapted from Adoption Awareness in School Assignments: A Guide for Parents and Educators by Christine Mitchell, 2007.
• Adoption Basics for Educators: How Adoption Impacts Children & How Educators Can Help - Iowa Foster and Adoptive Parents Association
• Health and Wellness Curriculum Grid - Belmont Day School Pre K-8

• Identity Development Model: Transracial Adoptee - Palmer
• Identity Development Model: African-American - Cross
• Identity Development Model: Latino - Ruiz
• Identity Development Model - Race and Ethnicity Comparison - Helms
• Identity Development Model: Asian-American ID - Lee

*Identity Development Models are adapted and shared by Rosetta Eun Ryong Lee

• Considering Adoption - What is Transracial Adoption?

https://consideringadoption.com/adopting/types-of-adoption/what-is-transracial-adoption

• Rosetta Lee's Affinity Groups Resource

https://sites.google.com/a/sgs-wa.org/sgsprofessionaloutreach/affinity-group-resource-page

• Sandra Chapman Consulting

http://www.chapequity.com/uploads/8/4/7/8/84787222/racial_id_drchap_transracial_adoptee.pdf

• PublicSource: In transracial adoptions, differences should be embraced—not ignored - Andrea Frazier
• National Association of Independent Schools - Standing at the Intersections: Transracial Adoption - NAIS Ideas Blog
• The Guardian: Stories of transracial adoptees must be heard – even uncomfortable ones - Nicole Chung
• Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development - The School and Transracially Adopted Children - Eva L. Nessa & Linda O'Neil
• Institute Study on Transracially Adopted Asians - Evan B. Donaldson
• The Psychological Experience of Students of Color in Independent Schools - Michael Thompson & Kathy Schultz
• Same and Different: supporting transracially adopted Asian Americans - Rosetta Lee
• Too Korean to be White and Too White to Be Korean: Ethnic Identity Development Among Transracial Korean American Adoptees - Joy Hoffman & Edlyn V. Peña

For Adults:

• Brodzinsky, David, Marshall D. Schecter and Robin Marantz Henig.

Being Adopted: The Lifelong Search For Self. (1993)

• Eldridge, Sherrie

Twenty Things Adopted Kids Wish Their Adoptive Parents Knew (1999)

Twenty Life Transforming Choices Adoptees Need to Make (2003)

• Ladner, Joyce A.

Mixed Families: adopting across racial boundaries (1977)

• Lifton, Betty Jean

Lost and Found: The Adoption Experience (1988)

Twice Born: memoirs of an adopted daughter (1975; paperback 2003)

• Melina, Lois Ruskai

Raising adopted children : practical reassuring advice for every adoptive parent (1998)

• Nakazawa, Donna Jackson.

Does anybody else look like me?: A Parent’s Guide to Raising Multiracial Children. (2003)

• Silber, Kathleen and Phylis Speedlin

Dear Birthmother (1991)

*Note: for potential adoptive parents on open adoption

• Smith, Jerome

The Realities of Adoption (1997)

• Tatum, Beverly Daniel.

“Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?” and Other Conversations About Race. (1997)

• Verrier, Nancy

The Primal Wound: Understanding the Adopted Child (1993)

For Teens:

• Gravelle, Karen and Susan Fischer

Where are my Birth Parents? A Guide for Teenage Adoptees (1993)

*Note: this book deals with the specifics of conducting a search for birth parents; lots of references in the back for further reading or support groups.

Appropriate for grades 9 – 12

• Lowry, Lois (fiction)

Find a Stranger, Say Goodbye (1979)

• Kaminker, Laura

Everything you need to know about being adopted (1999); Appropriate for grades 7 and up

For Young Children:

• Dorow, Sara and Stephen Wunrow

When you were born in China : a memory book for children adopted from China (1997)

• Bunin, Catherine

Is that your sister? : A true story of adoption (1992)

• Krementz, Jill

How it feels to be adopted (1982)

• Lewis, Rose A. and Jane Dyer

I Love You Like Crazy Cakes (2000)

• Rosove, Lori and Heather Burrill

Rosie’s Family: an adoption story (2001)

• Adopted. A Point Made film. Directed by Barb Lee: http://www.adoptedthemovie.com/
• Living On The Fault Line: where race and family meet. Directed by Jeff Farber: http://www.onthefaultline.com/
• In the Matter of Cha Jung Hee by Deann Borshay Liem: http://www.mufilms.org/films/matter-of-cha-jung-hee/
• Twinsters (2015). Directed by Samantha Futerman: http://twinstersmovie.com/

• Meet Up

https://www.meetup.com/topics/transracial-adoption/

• American Adoptions Blog

https://www.americanadoptions.com/blog/25-helpful-resources-for-transracial-adoptive-families/

• Adoptive Families Circle Message Board

https://www.adoptivefamiliescircle.com/groups/group/Transracial_Families1/

• Adoption UK Adoption UK’S Schools & Exclusions Report - Adoption UK, November 2017
• Key information about schools for adoptive parents and special guardians - PAC-UK