Kevin Hofmann’s Presentation: Growing Up Black in White—A Brief Synopsis

March 01, 2011

By Nada H., mother by adoption to one daughter

On February 22, 2011, Celebrate Adoption welcomed Kevin Hofmann, author of “Growing Up Black in White,” to present our annual workshop on transracial/transcultural adoption.

Kevin shared his memories and offered his insights into the complexities and challenges of being a biracial (Caucasian/African American), adopted child raised by Caucasian parents. After beginning his presentation by recounting how a white family adopted a biracial infant during the civil rights movement of the 1960s in post-riots Detroit, Kevin kept an audience of 65 completely engaged, sharing both funny and tragic anecdotal stories of his childhood and growth into adulthood.

Kevin’s open and honest demeanor provided attendees with an opportunity to ask pointed and uninhibited questions about race, racism, family and adoption. Also in attendance were Kevin’s wife, two sons, and sister who also shared in the open discussion format, offering their own valuable insights to these challenging issues.

He helped the audience understand what transracially- or transculturally-adopted children might be feeling, but that they may lack the vocabulary—or are reluctant to—articulate those emotions to their adoptive parents. For that reason, Kevin encourages adoptive parents of children of another race or culture to maintain an open, ongoing dialogue about cultural and racial differences.

For me, one of the most thought provoking, “A-ha!” moments came when an attendee asked Kevin why he seemed to connect more with his African American side rather than with his Caucasian side, despite being raised by white parents. His answer was “I didn’t know I had a choice”. He went on to explain that when you are a child of color, society places a color value on you that Caucasian children typically don’t deal with.

Personally, I took three major points away from this workshop:

• First, don’t tell your child that color doesn’t matter, because it does.
• Second, don’t let your child feel victimized by racism, but rather be honest with them that it exists and teach them how to deal with it in a way that’s appropriate for their age.
• Third, parents of biracial children have a responsibility to seek out positive relationships with people and families of that child’s race not only for their child’s benefit, but also for their own.

Overall, Kevin received rave reviews from the workshop’s attendees. Of the 36 completed evaluation forms received after the event, 72% strongly agreed, and 28% agreed, that the educational training increased their understanding of issues for children adopted transculturally/transracially, while 78% strongly agreed, and 12% agreed, that the session was relevant and valuable to their situation.

Comments included “I appreciated Kevin’s openness and candor,” “Kevin pointed out several ideas I never thought about, raising my understanding of upcoming challenges,” and “Great insight into the issues involved in being a transracial family.”

For more information about Kevin Hofmann, or about his book “Growing Up Black in White,” please click here.
 

 

Tags: biracial , Kevin Hofmann , transracial adoption , workshop

Add comment