Further thoughts on Transracial Adoption

Before I get into the topic of this particular post, let me first say thank you to all of you who took the time to share your thoughts on my previous post. You all have given me a lot to think about, and I cannot express how much I appreciate your advice and input.

Below are some concluding thoughts on this topic (at least for now, who knows what I might think up in the future...be afraid, be very afraid!)

R and I have been involved with a local families with children from Asia group for the last two years (attending last year's and this year's Chinese New Year Party) and are optimistic that being a part of this group will be an enjoyable experience for years to come-both for us, and for our child(ren). We also live about three hours away from an urban area that has a large asian (mostly Hmong) population as well as a large hispanic population. Given that we have close friends who live in this area (not to mention it is the closest city to us that has decent shopping!), we will be intentional about attending the many multi-cultural kid centered events available there. We are also aware that we need to be careful to not follow our child(ren)'s lead in regards to how much, how often, and to what extent we engage in cultural and adoption related activities and events. Of course, we will incorporate our child's birth culture into our lives as much as possible in the ways of books, art, music, food, etc.

Fortunately, we have the blessing and pleasure to have met a local family who has 11 children adopted from China, Bulgaria, and Vietnam: the children from Vietnam were adopted at a "older" age, and retain a love for the culture as well as having retained some of the language...these children are excited to know we are adopting from Vietnam and we hope to create stronger friendship ties with this family as time goes on (we met at the FCA CNY party this year).

While still not the ideal held up by the "experts in the field", we are reasonably confident that, all things considered, we are in the best place possible for us to be at this time. I take comfort in responses such as E (go click on "Looking for George" and read her post on this topic- I am too technically ignorant to put the link in the blog itself) reminding me to take a common sense approach to this issue and to not lose sight of the big picture- the primary importance being our children's needs and being, for lack of a better term, a "happy family."

**Oh, and one final question in relation to this topic: anyone have any experience or knowledge about culture camps? Do you plan on attending one? Why, or why not?