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Although at its heart, transracial adoption is traditionally considered benevolent, it can often exact a heavy emotional, cultural, and even economic toll.
Through compelling essays, fiction, poetry, and art, the contributors to this landmark collection explore this most intimate aspect of globalization. It is from these unmediated voices of the adults who have matured within it, we find a rarely-considered view of adoption, an institution that pulls apart old families and identities and grafts new ones.
Moving beyond personal narrative, these transracially adopted writers from around the world tackle difficult questions about:
How to survive the racist and ethnocentric worlds they inhabit
What connects the countries relinquishing their children to the countries importing them
Why impoverished families of color often have their children removed rather than supported
Who, ultimately, they are as individuals
In their inquiry, these articulate adults unseat conventional understandings of adoption politics, ultimately reframing the controversy as a debate that encompasses human rights, peace, and reproductive justice.
Roberta's Note: Collections like Outsider's Within should be an essential part of the reading list for all parents/families who adopt across the color line. The work here will challenge you to the core - your attitudes, assumptions, and your motives. Listen to and engage the voices presented here and remember, for in time these could easily be the voices of your own children as they move to and through adulthood.
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