Yes, We Do Adopt!
Yes, We Do Adopt! is the blog of Pact’s Adoptive Parents of Color Collaborative (APCC), devoted to uplifting the voices, values, and experiences of adoptive parents of color. We aim to help community members gain insight into the challenges, the triumphs, and the everyday, natural moments that make up the lives of families built by adoption led by people of color.
by Raquel Vivanco I am honored and humbled to introduce myself as the new director of Pact's Adoptive Parents of Color Collaborative (APCC). I step into this role as a longtime member of APCC, as a Pact staff member, and as the adoptive Latin@ mother of 2 amazing...
Pact's Adoptive Parents of Color Collaborative raises up the voices and visibility of adoptive parents of color. This month: Meet Antonio Ocampo Guzman. How do you describe yourself? I'm a Colombian immigrant, father, husband, and professional. How do you describe...
Pact’s Adoptive Parents of Color Collaborative raises up the voices and visibility of adoptive parents of color. This month: Meet Ashwin Dharmadhikari and Jhumka Gupta. How do you describe yourselves? Ashwin: I identify as a South Asian American. My parents are both...
Pact’s Adoptive Parents of Color Collaborative raises up the voices and visibility of adoptive parents of color. This month: Meet Lisa Moore. How do you describe yourself? I am a 51-year-old parent to two children, ages 15 and 8, one of whom joined my family through...
Pact's Adoptive Parents of Color Collaborative raises up the voices and visibility of adoptive parents of color. This month: Meet Tina Feliciana. How do you describe yourself? Mixed race/Black. How do you describe your family? We are an intra- and inter-adoptive...
by Kirstin Nelson After two years of cancellations due to the pandemic, it was great to be back at Pact Family Camp East in Pine Mountain, Georgia. This was the second time camp East was held at this location (the last time being 2019) but things felt different this...
by Kirstin Nelson Spring 2022: My daughter's school held a field day for the first time since 2019, kids are having birthday parties, and we attended an outdoor festival and potluck this past weekend. Our lives are starting to feel more open. We are beginning to...
By Lisa L. Moore, LICSW, PhD Full disclosure: Writing about adoption from the position of being an adoptive parent is new for me. I find the experience of producing my own narrative around adoption from this position to be one that challenges me for two reasons....
By Kirstin Nelson In 2017, I decided to do both Ancestry and 23 & Me DNA testing. I had already connected with my birth mother over 30 years ago, and I was aware of, although not in contact with, my birth father, so I wasn't looking for that information. But I was...
In this episode of Pact's "Yes, We Do Adopt" podcast, Malaika Parker is joined by Dr. SooJin Pate to explore themes of anti-racist parenting, rest and respite from white supremacy culture, and the importance of dreaming. SooJin is an educator, writer, and DEI...
by Malaika Parker Dear Fellow Black Parents: With the beautiful Uprisings of 2020 there is a newfound awareness of something most Black folks have always been aware of: White Supremacy exists (welcome to the party, y’all are real late). There has been a collective...
In this episode of Pact's "Yes, We Do Adopt" podcast, Malaika Parker is joined by Robyn Joy Park to discuss play therapy as an opportunity for connection and care, helping kiddos with transitions and the concept of ambiguous loss. Robin is a queer, transracial Korean...
By Kirstin Davis Pact and the Adoptive Parents of Color Collaborative advocate for open adoption, but we know from experience that maintaining contact between adoptive and birth/first families is not always easy or straightforward. We received this question from an...
In this episode of Pact's podcast "Yes, We Do Adopt," Malaika Parker welcomes Kate Goka, an educator, brilliant creative, and an adoptive parent parenting across racial lines. Kate joins Malaika to talk about her experiences as an Asian-American parent parenting who...
by Kirstin Nelson I've been active in transracial and general adoption groups for many years. In the beginning, it was through listservs (for anyone under the age of 30, these are electronic mailing lists); later there were AOL chatrooms and basic websites with...
In this episode of Pact's "Yes, We Do Adopt" podcast, Malaika Parker is joined by Dr. Sam Coleman, Dr. Christine Beilard, Sandria Washington, Satcey Gatlin and Nefertiti Austin of the Black Adoption Collection, a group that is working to represent Black members of the...