American Adoptions -- America's Adoption Agency

Merry Christmas!

We have a daughter, Ivy, who is in the first grade. She is smart, passionate, creative, and playful. She likes other children and enjoys attending parties and playdates with kids from church, neighborhood, and school. Ivy loves to visit our friends who have children, whether younger or older, and sometimes in her pretend play she will imagine that they are her brothers and sisters. She is aware of our plans to adopt and is excited about becoming a big sister soon. We have explained to her that the new child may not look like us or her, and that hasn't bothered her in the slightest.

When we realized that Ivy would be our only biological child, we struggled with the awareness that as a family we could miss out on the fun and support that sibling relationships provide. These relationships were important to both of us as we were growing up. When the three of us enjoy holidays together, it always feels like there is room for more children. As we have settled into our community and met several families with adopted children of multiple ethnic backgrounds, we began to see adoption as the right choice for our family as well. We believe that the adopted child would be wonderfully braided into our family - we could share in each other's life, energy, and unique qualities.

Petting Baby Chicks

We both appreciate the importance of a good education for achieving one's goals in life. We have settled in a community with a strong public school system, something that benefitted us when we were young and that we see as key for raising children that are equipped to flourish in our diverse and complex society. Academic achievement is critical, but we will be watchful for the child's abilities and inclinations outside the classroom as well, since extracurricular activities can contribute substantially to a child's ability to be creative, cooperative, and resilient in diverse settings. We want the child to feel empowered to move forward in any calling he or she might have

Our family will need to have a certain sensitivity and understanding to parent a child of a different race in our race-conscious world. Our decision to adopt across racial/cultural lines is a decision to alter the course not only of our generation but of generations to come. We become a multicultural, multiracial, multiethnic family-forever. We have pondered questions such as what we think and feel about interracial marriages, what we think and feel about getting public attention, what our thoughts are about race and how we will help this child develop his own identity. It is important that we respect the child's cultural heritage. We will provide necessary guidance to the child in understanding his heritage and background so as he matures he can explain who he is and feel comfortable with who he is. Dea's training in particular has given her a greater respect for diverse cultural heritage and has prepared her to provide guidance and understanding to a child of multiple ethnic backgrounds. Dea graduated with a Master's Degree in Communication Sciences and Disorders at a University that provided a multicultural emphasis to their program. She has spent the last 10 years as a speech language pathologist in large cities servicing the Birth to Eighteen population of culturally diverse children. Dea loves children and has been successful at working with these youngsters on improving their communication skills and at forming positive relationships with their families.