Adoption is often viewed as a happy ending, and sometimes it is! But for Thenedra, her experiences as a child in the foster care system and later as a trans-racial adoptee were — and still are — much more complicated than that.

This is an episode about what can happen when trans-racial foster and adoptive parents are not just unprepared to raise traumatized children, but also unprepared to raise Black children in a predominantly white society.References: 

• The National Association of Black Social Workers’ 1972 position statement on transracial adoption 

• 1984 study on the long-term effects of trans-racial adoption

• Children of color disproportionately likely to enter foster care system

Can’t get enough TTFA? Sign up for TTFA Premium for $7.99 a month. You’ll get access to exclusive bonus content, ad-free episodes, extended guest interviews and more! Visit TTFA.org/Premium to get started.

When you shop our Bookshop.org store, you support the author, independent bookstores AND our show! Shop here.

You can purchase Nora’s books here.

Shop for your favorite TTFA gear at TTFAmerch.com.

Read the transcript for this episode here.

You can catch up with TTFA on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook using @ttfapodcast. Nora's Instagram is @noraborealis.

—

And check out our sponsors this week:

• Betterhelp: betterhelp.com/TTFA

• Thirdlove: thirdlove.com/TERRIBLE

• Happier w/Gretchen Rubin: shows.cadence13.com/podcast/happier

• OUAI: theouai.com with code THANKS

• Sakara: sakara.com/thanks