Basic Questions to be Answered by any Family Considering Foreign Adoption

1. What are your ideas about race? What characteristics do you think Brazilian and Latin American people have? Do you expect your child to have these characteristics? A Brazilian Black child will be expected by his peers to fit into the African-American culture, which will be foreign to him. How will you handle this? Try to visualize your new child growing up into a teenager, an adult, a parent. Think about grandchildren. Ours is a race conscience society. Discrimination towards non-blacks exists but may be more subtle; it requires more sensitivity to subtleties. Are you ready to support your child and help him cope with others' remarks and incidents of discrimination? 2. How do you feel about getting lots of attention - positive and negative? How will you react when your adopted child receives more attention than your biological child? 3. How do you feel about being an inter-cultural/inter-racial family ... for generations? Do you raise your child to have the same identity as your other children? How do you help him develop his own identity? Should his name reflect his national origin? Imagine a child you know and love being sent overseas to be adopted. How would you want him raised - as an American in a foreign country or as a native in that country? Remember that the child will have everything taken from him - birth parents, country, culture. 4. What are your motivations for adoption? Do you feel you are doing a good deed for a poor, homeless child who will be grateful to you when he is older? This is poor motivation and not realistic; the child may never thank you. Do you feel you'd be acquiring a status symbol or conversation piece? You must have an attitude of respect for the country and culture of the child. If you feel your own values and culture are superior, or if your primary orientation is to help the child become absorbed into your culture at the expense of his own, then transcultural adoption is not for you. 5. Do you have the capacity to identify with this child, to see the world from his point of view and to lovingly supply his physical, mental and spiritual needs? Do you want to learn more about the child's culture and heritage and incorporate these into your life on a regular basis? If you do, then consider further the idea of inter-country adoption. 6. How do you feel about the probable lack of prenatal or medical history about the child? Little is usually known about the child's birth family, prenatal care, developmental history, emotional adjustment, behavior and, sometimes, birth date. Children can suffer form minor problems such as parasites, scabies, motor delays due to lack of stimulation, malnourishment, lice, diarrhea, upper respiratory and ear infections, poor teeth, rickets; however, medical records tend to deal with more serious problems. Although every effort is made to accurately report a child's health condition, some problems may be undiagnosed. 7. Have you spoken at length to other adoptive parents of foreign children? Have you spoken to parents who have recently completed a Brazilian adoption? Have you spoken to parents who completed a Brazilian adoption some time ago? If not, please request names and phone numbers from the agency or organization assisting you. Adoption is a lifetime commitment. You must be sure about this very important step! Foreign adoption is not for every family. Many good parents cannot truly accept someone else's child and love him as their own. Many adoptive parents are excellent parents to a child of their own race, but not cut out to be parents to a child of another race or background. Children are removed from their own country ONLY because they essentially have little future in that country and no possibility of being cared for by permanent, nurturing parents through adoption within that country or through strong, long-term foster care. Their only alternative to inter-country would be institutional care until they reach majority age. We need to support the humanitarian and child-centered views that have permitted these children to emigrate and become part of our families. As in any birth or adoption, there is an element of risk and there can be NO GUARANTEE as to the health, intelligence, appearance, or development of behavior of the child.

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