“Something traumatic happened to one of the girls. The unwanted drama and heartache began. The social worker took us for a wild ride. She gave us an ultimatum. ‘If you don’t take the youngest sister back, I will take all 3 girls and place them in another home.’ I knew in my heart I couldn’t handle 6 children! One minute they needed to be adopted, and the next they were going home with their biological family.”
‘Why didn’t you adopt your own kind?’ They’re African-American, I’m Italian, my husband is Filipino. My love for them is like no other.’: Couple adopt 5 children from foster care, ‘I wouldn’t have it any other way!’
‘Oh, are you babysitting?’ ‘They’re mine.’ I’m a 30-year-old single black woman with 3 white kids. Love has no color in my home.’: Woman adopts 1 boy, 2 siblings from foster care, ‘love is love, no matter the color’
“I heard a knock on the door. There, on my doorstep, stood this beautiful, petite little girl. ‘My name is Alexis.’ I realized she was alone. ‘Are you sure about adoption? ‘You don’t think 3 children is a lot?’ ‘You realize this means you will be financially responsible for them, right?’ I was already a single mom, what was I thinking? My heart immediately dropped. YES, YES, YES. I just couldn’t say no.”
‘It’s definitely too soon,’ I thought. ‘No one would approve.’ I met K at the wrong time. At 26 years old, I had already been married 6 years, parented 7 children and miscarried 2 babies.’
“My phone vibrates in the middle of my text. It’s an unsaved number. I just stared at my phone. ALL I could think about was the tall handsome dude at the store, whom I didn’t even catch the name of.”
‘I bet you’re glad someone actually wanted you.’ Black? Adopted by a white, Mennonite family?’: Adopted woman finally accepts she’s ‘innately enough’ after years of torment for ‘mixed-race’ family
“I’m 7 when a stranger approaches, points. ‘Who does she belong to?’ ‘Where are your real parents?’ I’m 12 and a group of boys spit on me, call me racist slurs. My crush’s mom tells me he isn’t allowed to be with people ‘like me.’ I can’t sleep. ‘You’re not really black.’ ‘You can’t really be Mennonite.’ I’m just now learning to be gentle with myself, and my past.”
‘We sound like the beginning of a bad joke. A Black, Transracial, Mennonite Adoptee and a White Mennonite Midwesterner walk into a bar…’: Young woman reflects on her unique marriage
“Eight years ago, I got in a car at midnight to eat bad cheese fries at a sketchy truck stop. I took a chance to be vulnerable with someone I didn’t know. And, it changed my life.”
‘That’s my family,’ he said, pointing to us. The man looked back in shock and refused to let my husband through. Our daughter Ava began shouting his name.’
“I remember overhearing Justin telling the kids they were not allowed to scream in grocery stores. That someone might think daddy isn’t their ‘real daddy.’ That he’s trying to take them. It all made sense to me when we went to the airport as a family, and Justin was stopped.”
‘I’m Lebanese. He’s African American. No one approved of us. The longer we dated, the more friends began to slip away.’ Woman claims ‘intolerance’ only made her interracial relationship ‘grow stronger’
“We quickly found ourselves without friends, but we persisted. I remember hearing family make racist jokes and remarks like, ‘They don’t belong here.’ We were warned not to show affection for one another. But we leaned on each other when we had no one else to lean on. I never ONCE cared about the color of his skin.”
