Blog Post #6 Option A

While I read Pertman, I couldn’t help but think about our guest speaker who grew up in a diverse community.  Our guest speaker said how important it was for her to have grown up in a community full of diversity so she didn’t feel so “out-of-place”.  Pertman highlights a similar strategy that social workers suggest for adoptive parents, that “moving to a new neighborhood, so their sons and daughters can grow up among peers and adults who look like them”, (Pertman, pg.67).  I like this idea, but that is a drastic change of lifestyle; but so is adoption J.  The part that I found most interesting from the reading was the lack of education that was available for adoptive parents in regards to racism that their child will face.  Being a white male, the only racism I have ever felt was in Mexico where somebody had spray painted “F*** You Gringo” on a wall.  That has been, probably, one of the only times I have felt direct hatred for my skin color.  I wouldn’t know how to address racism or comfort a person for being discriminated, because I have absolutely no experience with the matter.

                I also found the black market of children interesting.  It is fascinating that humans would have a child and sell that child for money to benefit them.  It makes complete sense why people would go through an agency instead of directly through the birth parent when adopting.  They can find out more information and, most often times, the agency can be more trusted.  Touching back on the racism issue that many adoptive parents will face, adoptive parents are also at risk of not completely understanding the situation that their child had been growing up in.  Using the Romanian adoptee example, as described by Pertman, many parents did not know that their adopted children would face developmental issues because of the poor treatment they had in foster care.  Once again, adoptive parents are left unprepared and may have been able to handle a situation regarding race or developmental issues.  These are just a few examples I noticed from today’s readings, and I’m sure organizations exist that prepare adoptive parents for a range of situations.

Brandon Kasper