Honouring an Adopted Child's Birth Culture
Ways Adoptive Families Can Celebrate an Adoptees’ Heritage
Apr 30, 2009
According to the Canadian Oxford Dictionary, one’s culture can be defined as “the customs, civilization, and achievements of a particular time or people”. When a family adopts a child whose birth culture is different than their own, this is referred to as a transcultural adoption.
Some transcultural adoptions are also transracial, meaning the child belongs to a different ethnic group than the adoptive parents. The adoption of a child from Russia to a Caucasian Canadian couple is considered transcultural, whereas if the same couple adopted a baby from Ethiopia, the adoption would be both transracial and transcultural.
The Importance of Honouring Birth Heritage
With the prevalence of Caucasian families adopting from Asia, Africa, Eastern European countries, as well as South and Central America, celebrating birth heritage is an important aspect of life as an adoptive family. Domestic transracial adoptions in Canada and in the U.S. are also giving adoptive parents an opportunity to immerse themselves into a culture they do not share with the child.
However, the need to celebrate an adopted child’s birth heritage extends beyond recognizing the child’s race and country of origin. Care has to be taken to make the honouring of the birth culture relevant to the child. For example, learning traditions such as dance and history may not interest some Chinese adoptees who are more focused on modern society in China.
Activities Celebrating Adoptees’ Birth Culture
Birth country tours are a great learning experience for the adoptive family but may not be feasible for everyone. For activities that embrace an adoptee’s birth heritage that are closer to home, try some of these ideas.
- Build a home library with books representing the child’s heritage and donate some to the local library.
- Go to a cultural festival featuring the child’s birth heritage.
- Attend places of worship and community groups where the adopted child is in the visible majority.
- Subscribe to print and on-line magazines that cater to different ethnic groups.
- Watch movies, read books and go to live performances that represent all races of people in a positive way, especially the cultural group of the adopted child.
- Decorate the entire home, not just the child’s room, with items that hold relevance to the child’s birth heritage.
- Work on a family tree together.
- Listen to traditional and modern music of the child’s country of origin.
- Include foods from the child’s ethnic group in the menu of the adoptive family.
Having a shared family enthusiasm for activities highlighting an adopted child’s heritage is just as important as the activity itself. The key is to make it interesting for the adoptee so that pride in the birth culture is instilled.
Sharing the Adopted Child’s Birth Culture
Part of showing pride in an adopted child’s birth heritage is sharing it with others. Here are some easy ways to highlight the importance of birth culture in adoption.
- Invite extended family and friends to participate in cultural celebrations or attend a festival.
- Talk to the child’s classmates about adoption from another country.
- Visit the child’s youth group and discuss the customs and language of the birth country.
To emphasize that preserving an adopted child’s birth heritage is a family experience, adoptive parents themselves can take a class that relates to the child’s culture, such as language, music, dance, or cooking.
By doing activities that celebrate an adopted child’s birth heritage, adoptive families build pride about where the adoptee came from and more importantly, who the adoptee is.
References
“culture.” Oxford Canadian Dictionary. Reprint ed. 2004.
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