We are pleased to announce that, effective April 13, 2009, Carolina Hope Christian Adoption Agency has become part of Nightlight Christian Adoptions, and our office will be operated as the South Carolina branch office of Nightlight. Information on this website (www.CarolinaHopeAdoption.org) about the adoption services that were formerly provided by Carolina Hope remains accurate — but these services are now rendered by our office as a part of Nightlight Christian Adoptions. Read more here.

1 April 2009

Adoption, ethnicity, racism

A few days ago the L.A. Times published an article entitled Thanking her for opening my eyes. The author, Corina Knoll, is ethnically Korean and was adopted as a child by a white family in the U.S.
In the article Knoll reflects on racism in America and how an Iowa school teacher made racism come alive [...]

9 March 2009

Transcultural and transracial adoptions: online course Wednesday

Wednesday evening at 9:00 (ET) Carolina Hope is offering a live, interactive online education course on Transracial & Transcultural Adoptions.
The cost for this course is only $15. You must sign-up at least 2 hours before the course begins. Additional information on signing up and paying can be found at the Transracial & Transcultural Adoptions page. [...]

20 January 2009

Transracial/Transcultural Adoption Course: live this evening

This evening at 9:30 (EST) Carolina Hope is offering a live, interactive online education course on Transracial & Transcultural Adoptions.

The cost for this course is only $15. You must sign-up at least 2 hours before the course begins. Additional information on signing up and paying can be found at the Transracial & Transcultural Adoptions page. [...]

5 January 2009

Outsiders’ views of our family . . .

My husband and I have been adopting transracially for 9 years and have almost forgotten that our large multi-racial family is still an anomaly in the United States. On Christmas Day, our local paper ran an interview and published an internet slideshow about who we are and how we are living. I was amazed at [...]

11 October 2008

Transracial adoption study: please participate

JCICS sent out the following request:
The University of Maryland, Department of Family Science is collaborating with The Center for Adoption Support and Education, (C.A.S.E) to conduct a national survey of transracial adoptive families, examining the extent to which parents’ attitudes and practices impact the adolescent’s sense of self and racial identity. Joint Council asks its [...]

9 September 2008

Live online course: Transracial and Transculture Adoptions (today - Thursday)

Carolina Hope is offering a live, interactive online education course on Transracial & Transcultural Adoptions. The cost for this course is only $15. You must sign-up at least 2 hours before the course begins.

7 September 2008

Confession time again – six adoptions doesn’t necessarily make the seventh easier.

After six adoptions, I have a stronger empathy with the pain that birth families experience than I have ever had before. With the pleasure of a new child I now have a larger reserve to experience the suffering their placement brings. I pray for the families more and I cry over their realities. I see that but for grace, it could be me releasing a child into a future without me — and my heart crumbles.

30 July 2008

The Gospel and Transethnic Adoption

This is a reworked and reformatted article. To read the article, click on the image below, and you will be able to download the article as a PDF.

17 July 2008

Transracial adoption: Is God’s leading enough?

In a post two days ago, Dorothy Bode wrote in answer to those who ask the question, “Am I making a terrible mistake by adopting transracially?”:
The main thing I help them question is their motivations. “Is God building your family or are you trying to do it in spite of Him and in your own [...]

15 July 2008

“Am I making a terrible mistake by adopting transracially?”

‘Am I making a terrible mistake by adopting transracially?” This is one of the hardest questions that adoptive parents ask me. It is layers deep and generations long. (more…)

17 June 2008

Teaching my children about their racial identities

Teaching our transracially adopted children to embrace their racial identities is a daily, intentional and God focused part of our parenting (more…)

4 June 2008

Transracial adoption didn’t have to change my life.

Transracial adoption didn’t need to change my life. But I am a better parent and my family is stronger because it has. (more…)

29 May 2008

Highlights from Dorothy Bode’s NPR interview on transracial adoption

Comments about Dorothy Bode’s transracial adoption interview on NPR’s Day to Day. In this May 28 interview, Dorothy discusses from her own experience the special issues facing transracial families.

28 May 2008

Dorothy Bode interviewed on NPR

NPR interviewed one of our blog’s writers, Dorothy Bode, about transracial adoption. You can listen to part one of this interview (7 min 44 sec) here. Dorothy did an excellent job!

13 May 2008

‘Do Black kids sunburn?’ and other crazy questions I had no one to ask in my adoption journey

Yesterday I had the opportunity of participating in the webinar that Carolina Hope’s director Laura Beauvais-Godwin did for families who are considering transracial/transcultural adoption. It was a good experience for me, and I hope that those who participated gained a little insight into the world of parenting children who don’t look like us. Personally, I wish [...]

12 May 2008

Transracial and Transcultural Adoptions: Online course this evening

This evening from 7 until 8:30 (Eastern), there is an online education course about Transracial and Transcultural Adoptions. This adoption course is offered as a webinar, which is a teleconference combined with web interface so that participants can see the presenter’s PowerPoint slides as she talks. The cost is $15 (free for Carolina Hope families). [...]

2 May 2008

Transracial Adoption: Talking about our extended families’ response.

When we began adopting transracially, our families were very alarmed, and they didn’t hesitate to tell us. They were concerned about us being naive and unrealistic. About our ‘perfect’ one-boy-one-girl family being rocked so hard that it would be destroyed. They pointed out that with college expenses rising we couldn’t educate more than two — [...]

18 April 2008

Online adoption education course: Adopting Transracially

Carolina Hope is conducting a 1-hour transracial adoption education course on Tuesday, April 22, at 7 p.m. The cost is $15.
The course will be conducted online as a webinar, so participation will require an internet connection faster than dial-up. (Other than that, nothing is required. For more details, see the course page.)
This webinar is open [...]

7 April 2008

Transracial Adoption: Windows and doors.

There are many countries and adoption programs that are closed to our family due to our income, age, family size and ethnicity. It is probably good that they are closed, as I have been accused of a tendency toward ‘adoption addiction’ — and it just makes it easier to find the specific paths that God [...]

4 April 2008

Staff introductions: Dan Cruver

As we celebrate our adoption agency’s 10th Anniversary, I’m posting brief introductions of the Carolina Hope staff. March 10 I told you a little about our Assistant Director, Lisa Prather. Today I would like you to meet our Director of Ministry Outreach, Dan Cruver. I’ve asked him a few questions, and here are his answers.
JJ: [...]