My wife and I are white. We adopted our wonderful African American children at birth. We strive daily to help our son grow up to be a confident, proud and loving black man and our daughter to be a confident, proud and loving black woman. I hope our experiences will help others who are doing the same.

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

The End of Anger?

Today on NPR's  Talk of the Nation


May 31, 2011
In 1994, Ellis Cose surveyed successful, middle-class African-Americans and uncovered an often unspoken rage. He described his findings in the book The Rage Of A Privileged Class.
Now, 17 years later, Cose has discovered a major change among middle-class blacks: They have become one of the most optimistic groups in America. He reveals his findings in a new book, The End Of Anger.
Cose tells NPR's Neal Conan that the rise in optimism is not linked to perceived end of discrimination.
"No one black who I talked to thinks we have arrived at a point where we are an equal opportunity nation," Cose says.
Cose conducted two large surveys — one of black Harvard M.B.A.'s and one of graduates of A Better Chance, a program that sends kids to prep schools. He says he learned that for well-educated and well-prepared African-Americans, "the sky is the limit."
Cose found that a generation after The Rage Of A Privileged Classmiddle-class African-Americans are finding themselves with opportunities that didn't exist before.
Cover of 'The End Of Anger'
The End Of Anger: A New Generation's Take On Race And Rage
By Ellis Cose
Hardcover, 320 pages
Ecco
List Price: $24.99
"And this is something that is fundamentally different about the way people — particularly people of color — are viewing the American experience," he says.
According to Cose, it was once axiomatic for African-American parents to warn their children that they'd have to work twice as hard to get half as far as their white counterparts. But these days, the conventional wisdom has changed.
"Some of those kids are indeed going to get as far as anybody," Cose says.
Cose refers to the post-Jim Crow generation as "The Believers," a group that never experienced a time when African-Americans couldn't get into top-ranked universities or work at large corporations. Instead, they saw African-Americans rise to top positions in both industry and government.
Because of that, Cose says, the Believers have largely concluded that the old ways don't apply to them; that they can succeed no matter what color skin they have. He says in many ways, African-Americans today have more faith in this country than their white counterparts.
In one survey, Cose asked participants about discrimination in the workplace. He says, "Around 90 percent said there was some kind of glass ceiling in the corporate workplace."
But when participants were specifically asked about glass ceilings at their workplace, the results were quite different — only half said they saw a glass ceiling in effect.
In another workplace survey, many young African-Americans said they felt they were treated the same as their similarly credentialed white peers.
"People were not saying discrimination has disappeared," Cose says. Instead, he says, the message was that "the kind of discrimination that made it impossible to aspire to rise to a certain level is nowhere anywhere near as heavy as it used to be."
The result is that a young black Harvard M.B.A. can actually reach for the stars. There may still be discrimination, but if you successfully navigate around trouble, you can still achieve your goals.

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

On Talk of the Nation today and available for podcast

As the number of American transracial  adoptions grows, more adoptive  parents  must grapple with the best way to raise children who don't look like them.
View captioniStockphoto.com

The Parenting Dilemmas Of Transracial Adoption

(15)  (12)
Today, approximately 40 percent of adoptions in America are transracial — and that number is growing. Parents of transracial adoptions often struggle with how best to raise children who don't look like them — is it best to raise them colorblind, or acknowledge the differences?



http://www.npr.org/programs/talk-of-the-nation/

Monday, May 9, 2011

Adopt America Network planning November online live auction

Sign up on their Facebook Page.


Charlene Crane Rook
April 22, 2011

Dear Friends:

At Adopt America Network we believe that every child deserves a safe, loving, permanent family and home of his or her own. This foundation is essential to the well-being and mental health of every person.

Adopt America Network (AAN) is dedicated to helping find adoptive families for foster children with special circumstances, whether they have physical challenges, emotional issues or they are older children with siblings. Our placements are even more vital when you consider these small souls are the innocent victims of painful loss, neglect and abuse.

We are hoping you will join us in this journey in CREATING SPECIAL HOMES.

In November 2011 we will be kicking off the first CREATING SPECIAL HOMES live/online auction.

We are simply asking that you create a special home to help us create special homes. Please draw us your best home on the cardstock provided, sign it, fill out the label on the reverse side, and return in the envelope provided. We will then have it matted and include it in an auction to raise money to help us create more special homes for foster children waiting for adoptive families. Should you want to also donate other special items to be included in the auction we would be thrilled. We are asking that all items be sent to us by October 1, 2011.

It is our hope, that with your help, we can provide even more homes for our special children. Over 87% of AAN’s income goes directly to program costs so you can be sure that the money raised will be used wisely.

If you have any questions, please call our Family Outreach Coordinator, Charlene Rook at
1-800-246-1731 (ext.44) or email her at Char@adoptamericanetwork.org.

Thank you for your help,

Wendy Spoerl, President
Adopt America Network

P.S. Please visit our website www.adoptamericanetwork.org to learn more about the children in foster care waiting for families and how AAN helps find their special home.
Check our Facebook page under Creating Special Homes Auction.
www.adoptamericanetwork.org
Adopt America Network specializes in placing special needs children in loving homes, providing adoption services and adoption services to our clients.

U2 and Soweto Gospel - love this version of Where the Streets have no Name

This Sunday East Lansing Movie and Panel on Transracial Adoption

From: Janelle Craig [mailto:bruce.craig@ATT.NET]
Sent: Monday, May 02, 2011 2:38 PM
To: ADOPTION@LIST.MSU.EDU
Subject: Upcoming seminar for Transracial families

We have finalized the date for showing two of the additional modules that the 
movie "Adopted" came with.  We plan on showing "The Multiracial Family" and 
"Identity for the Transracial Adoptee" along with having a panel of adult 
adoptees on Sunday, May 15th in the afternoon - starting at 2:00 pm.The modules
are each 25 minutes long, plus time for the panel and questions will be needed,
but it should be under 3 hours total I believe for  everything.  
  
We'll offer childcare again at $5 per child or $10 per family (if more than
two children in the same family) while you are attending.  This will be held at 
Edgewood United Church  in East Lansing.  The address is 469 N. Hagadorn in East
Lansing.  Go to  www.edgewooducc.org and find the "contact us" then click on 
"where is  Edgewood?" and get directions. There is plenty of free parking if you
turn on  the street immediately north of the church and go to the lot on the
left just  past the church. 
  
I can hire the childcare workers, but I'll need a count of how many kids  are
expected so that I hire enough staff and how many adults are planning
on coming to make sure we set up in the right sized room for all the parents
and  the panelists.
 

 IF YOU BELIEVE YOU CAN MAKE IT PLEASE RSVP TO ME THE NUMBER OF ADULTS COMING
AND 
THE NUMBER OF CHILDREN AND THEIR AGES.  bruce.craig@att.net

 
The only charge for the event is for the childcare, otherwise it's free and
the costs will be taken jointly from the GLOBA funds we were given and FCC's
funds.
 
Thank you,
Janelle