Should people only adopt children of the same race?

Very well said.

LOL! This will make "ONLY" five! But we hope that once the boys get adjusted that we will be able to adopt a girl from Guatemala. The biggest obstacle right now is time (and perhaps money). We do have a joke about having 7 by 2011! By then you'll have reached double digits so there's really no point in trying to keep up with you!

I must say that you hit it on the head that the situation in Haiti is pretty grim. Haiti is the third hungriest nation in the world and the poorest in the Western Hemisphere. 70% of the population lives in utter poverty. 1 out of 5 children will not survive to adulthood and of those who do survive to adulthood they're life expectancy is in their early 50's. Haiti is about the size of Maryland and has well over 200,000 orphanes. And perhaps one of the most unfortunate things that I have heard is that many Americans who choose to adopt internationally will not adopt from Haiti because the children are so dark skinned. :(

Thanks for the info. I'll add the problems of Haiti to my prayer list. If you go ahead with the adoption I'm sure God will bless you and use you to bless them and others.

I think it is very wise to point out that when adopting a child internationally that there are many considerations that one must first take. Just as the new mom reads every book available about her pregnancy so should adoptive parents educate themselves. Here is a taste of what we have done to prepare ourselves thus far. Without getting into into Haitian law too deeply I will say that it will be February 2008 before we even start our paperwork and most likely 2009 before our sons come home. We will spend our time learning as much as we can to learn about Haiti and the people of Haiti. The national languages of Haiti are French and Creole. We have decided to buy software that will teach us Creole. We will also teach our other children Creole. I have researched online many native recipes and will practice preparing these meals and any history that might be behind them. We have also researched the history of Haiti and discussed many aspects of their history with our family and friends. We really desire for everyone within our family to know as much as possible about our sons' history as well. I have not done much research on the medical problems of the culture, but when we receive a referal we will have a list of any medical problems that our sons might have. We live in NE Iowa and honestly there is not a lot of diveristy. It is pretty white around here! That is one of the reasons why we have decided to adopt brothers. We want them to have the support of one another ... another face that resembles theirs ... another person who knows what they have been through. As far as our extended family goes - we couldn't have had a greater response. See Medooley's comment! Also my husband's sister has adopted a girl from India and his brother is also planning on adopting from Haiti. We also would like to adopt a girl from Guatemala in years to come. We joke that Christmas will look like a meeting of the U.N.! Thanks for your post!

I think it is very wise to point out that when adopting a child internationally that there are many considerations that one must first take. Just as the new mom reads every book available about her pregnancy so should adoptive parents educate themselves. Here is a taste of what we have done to prepare ourselves thus far. Without getting into into Haitian law too deeply I will say that it will be February 2008 before we even start our paperwork and most likely 2009 before our sons come home. We will spend our time learning as much as we can to learn about Haiti and the people of Haiti. The national languages of Haiti are French and Creole. We have decided to buy software that will teach us Creole. We will also teach our other children Creole. I have researched online many native recipes and will practice preparing these meals and any history that might be behind them. We have also researched the history of Haiti and discussed many aspects of their history with our family and friends. We really desire for everyone within our family to know as much as possible about our sons' history as well. I have not done much research on the medical problems of the culture, but when we receive a referal we will have a list of any medical problems that our sons might have. We live in NE Iowa and honestly there is not a lot of diveristy. It is pretty white around here! That is one of the reasons why we have decided to adopt brothers. We want them to have the support of one another ... another face that resembles theirs ... another person who knows what they have been through. As far as our extended family goes - we couldn't have had a greater response. See Medooley's comment! Also my husband's sister has adopted a girl from India and his brother is also planning on adopting from Haiti. We also would like to adopt a girl from Guatemala in years to come. We joke that Christmas will look like a meeting of the U.N.! Thanks for your post!

I really think that it is admirable that you have decided to open your hearts and homes to these brothers. Congratulations to you! I also admire you so much for taking the time do so much research in order to understand their culture and heritage. The only thing that really bothered me about your statement was the fact that it's so UNdiversified in the area where you live. Even though they may have each other, it is really important for them to see similar faces around them. With it being so "white" there, you may need to educate yourself on the problems that black children, especially black males have in this country. For instance, the other day I with my nephew in the store, and the store owner (though there were other white children in the store at the time) chose to follow him around the entire time we were there. Or the time that my brother was walking down the street in an all white neighborhood, and was surrounded by several police (two of which had their weapons drawn), despite the fact that he was never charged with any crime after the incident. And I could go on and on about a lot of the injustices inflicted on black males in this country.

Thanks so much medooley. You'll never know how much you mean to me! Enough with the sap... you're right you are crazy.

First of all, I'm not offended or hurt because I did ask for opinions. "There are things that while people cannot relate too a black about." Such as what? Would it be better for a white couple to leave a black child in an orphange then to try to deal with the things that we have trouble "relating" to?

I believe that a child is a child, no matter what country they were born in. All children need homes and parents and a chance to grow up in a healthy environment.

I hope to spend the rest of my life learning about their culture and doing whatever it takes to make them feel as though their roots are important. Just as a tree cannot grow and be healthy apart from its roots I believe that a child needs to understand his/her roots and be made to feel that all parts of their life is important.

There's nothing that could deter us from adopting. Actually one of the reasons why we are adopting them is because they're black ... We've been told that many Americans (I assume the agency meant White Americans) won't adopt from Haiti because of how dark skinned these children are. I hate racism in any form and this is perhaps one of the worst kinds. It's as if some people think that because they're not just a "little" black but since they're "really" black we couldn't adopt them so we'll leave them in an orphange until someone who could "handle" that comes along. Though I agree that there is no "special needs" for skin color I must say that there are considerations that must be taken before one adopts transracially. Are you bringing children into a community where they will be discriminated against or put in a potentially harmful situation? Are there family members who will be opposed to children of another race ... etc. We have considered these things and have decided that we can give a black child a wonderful future in our home, family and community.

I don't want to be Angelina Jolie ... but that's a whole different discussion!