adoption agencies, it is mandatory for the child and adult go to therapy, as they grow older. This is just to get the child talking about his or her feelings toward life(Pohl/Harris 83). Therapist Jim Mahoney has worked with many nonwhites adopted foster children. He has developed a workshop on transracial parenting called, Attacking Racism Before It Defeats Your Child. The first steps Mahoney suggests as a parent are: *Be a role model for your child. Demonstrate in your conduct and your talk that you oppose racist discriminatory attitudes. *Examine your childs textbooks for negative stereotypes of minorities. *Be willing to talk openly with your children about racism and discrimination, and be willing to listen to them. *Insist on high goals (Pohl/Harris 90). How your kids do in school is how they will do later in life. Is what Mahoney teaches in his workshop. If a child of color does not graduate from high school, statistics show that his or her life span will be shorter than a white person who dropped out of school(Pohl/Harris 91). This means parents also have to be understanding and forgiving. If a transracial child is having difficulty adjusting, do not get frustrated. Try to understand the childs feelings and talk about the situation. Identity is important in the young curious mind. The children sometimes become confused because the people they love most are different from them. Who am I, and where are my real parents? Why didnt my real parents want me? During adolescence is when most children who are adopted start to ask questions. The reason is because the children are trying to figure out who they are and are searching for a identity. As the child grows older, a adopted child will often begin to search for his or her biological parents. A lot of search is dealing with unfinished business. Reunion allows the reworking of many issues(Gilman 382). Some adoptive parents feel rejected when their child searches for their biological p...
