Adopt, Then Adapt

CONCORD, Calif. — David Glotzer and Charlotte Meyer adopted their first child 11 years ago. They flew the birth mother to San Francisco from North Carolina and put her up with Meyer's sister. They were in the hospital room when Aaron came into the world. Four years later, the white couple adopted a daughter, Hannah, so their African American son would have a sister of the same race.

Then their life began to change in directions they could not have anticipated. They moved from San Francisco to Oakland to be in a mostly black community. They enrolled their children in a mostly black Catholic school. And they began to experience racism, through their children. It shocked them. And it hurt.

"Your sense of identity changes," says Glotzer. "You go from being Caucasian to a family of color."

At a time when the Bush administration is pushing adoption from foster care--launching the first federal adoption Web site late last month and creating a series of public service commercials featuring Bruce Willis and the first lady--an increasing number of adoptions are trans-racial. And the success of such adoptions, whether through foster care, private agencies or attorneys, requires more than simply matching a child with a loving family. Trans-racial families often experience uniquely challenging issues of race and identity.

Matt Plut and his wife, Hazel White, have a 4-year-old adopted African American son named Jake. Jake attends a private preschool in San Francisco that Plut estimates is 40% minority and 60% white. Plut serves on the school's board of directors and is working to introduce the school to some of the methods and activities proposed in a book called "Anti-Bias Curriculum: Tools for Empowering Young Children." He said he is just trying to be proactive.

"We are white parents. We don't know what it is like to grow up black in America. Looking back, I know I was a sheltered white person in a white community. I remember how my peers and everyone talked about race. It is not a comfortable feeling to know this is what you were taught, how you absorb racism as a child.

"I've always thought of myself as a person who wasn't racist. But when you actually start learning about it or are very close to it, you realize you didn't even know."