As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we believe that “All human beings—male and female—are created in the image of God. Each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and, as such, each has a divine nature and destiny.” * I wonder if we sometimes forget this, and I have a million related questions. Are we sometimes too quick to “write off” children who come from riskier backgrounds because of the work that might be required of us, forgetting that they are divine spirit children of the same Father in Heaven? If so, are we justified in doing... more

I’ve mentioned before that I work 2-3 days per month assessing children from birth to six years as part of a multidisciplinary team, and today happened to be one of my workdays. Probably 50% of the children we evaluate are either current foster children, or were adopted from foster care, and we occasionally see children who were adopted privately as infants as well as a few (mostly mine!) who were adopted internationally.

Today, two of the three children we assessed were biological brothers who currently reside in different foster homes. They are numbers... more

Additional resources:

The Genesis Group

From the website:

The Genesis Group was established to meet the needs of Black members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, many of whom were descendants of early pioneers, with the hope of reactivating those who had left the Church and of supporting new converts of African descent. It was established in 1971 under the direction of President Harold B. Lee with the assistance of Elders Gordon B. Hinckley,... more

2 Nephi 26:33 "...and he inviteth them all to come unto him and partake of his goodness; and he denieth none that come unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female; and he remembereth the heathen; and all are alike unto God, both Jew and Gentile."

Article of Faith Three

We believe that through the atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel. (emphasis mine)

“Sermons and Writings of Bruce R. McConkie”

"There are statements in our literature by the early Brethren that we have interpreted to mean that the Negroes... more

I can’t possibly do justice to all the different theories (and theories, they are) about curses and lineage and when and where and how the policy began, but I use the story of Abel’s murder and Cain’s subsequent punishment to illustrate that the “knowledge” some church members have on the subject of blacks and the gospel can be damaging to our children. I believe that even neutral and even well-intentioned comments, if doctrinally incorrect, are our responsibility to counter, just as we would any other adoption-related misconceptions. But we can’t educate others if we don’t first educate ourselves, and I sincerely hope that caucasian LDS parents will take this education seriously. At the... more

Another reason it’s a good idea for caucasian parents who hope to adopt transracially to have a handhold on race and church history is because social workers who are aware of the church’s past policy want to know how this will be handled with the child. “What priesthood ban?” is not a good response. If you are going to be a parent of a black child, you owe it to the child to educate yourself. Consider the experiences of one adoptive family:

I will never forget sitting across the desk from the guardian ad litem for my first son in her Milwaukee office. She was a polished, accomplished woman. She was black.... more

Since I was hired to create this blog, I’ve been wanting to tackle the difficult subject of race issues and the Church. In the beginning, it sounded like a logical topic to cover for an LDS adoption blog, knowing that many members adopt transracially. But each time I tried to start mentally composing something, it seemed just too emotionally and intellectually challenging.

I’ve been doing a little “research” over the last few weeks, and I suppose I’ve been trying to get my own bearings on “the facts” and how I feel about them before I write about something... more

Other perks include the fact that the sheriff's office keeps criminal record check forms on their hard drive with our names on them. Seriously. Our local McDonald's offered to do an all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast to help us fundraise for our first adoption. Professionals (bank presidents, doctors and nurses, etc.) who have to write letters or complete forms for us know us personally and understand how important it is that we get those documents back quickly. Our needs aren't lost in a pile of papers, gathering dust, because a doctor doesn't know us from Adam.

On the flip side, the biggest drawback we've discovered is that it's impossible to keep adoption plans a secret. The... more

Last night my husband and I went out to for Chinese food and a movie with our friends J and D, who are adopting from Haiti. D is also our family doctor, and because he'd just completed our adoption physicals, he brought our notarized doctor letters for our Ethiopia dossier to the restaurant. I thanked him for being so prompt, tucked the envelope into my purse and didn't think about it much after that.

Last night when my husband and I pulled into the garage, I realized I no longer had the envelope. I looked all over the car and couldn't find it, so I figured I must have dropped it at the theater and would have to call them when they opened. I was pretty worried I'd never find... more

Yesterday I received our Ethiopia dossier packet in the mail at about 11:00, and from the moment I opened the envelope, I went full steam ahead with my work! The older kids were busy working on their schoolwork, and I told the younger ones that today would be our “off” day (they do school 4 days a week and we have a floating day off) and that they would get to play. There were no complaints there, so I camped out at the kitchen table with my computer, my adoption binder, the new packet, and a pen. I made copies, wrote letters, adeptly printed notarial blocks onto copies of birth and marriage certificates (OK, so I wasted about 20 sheets of paper before I got it right), and filled out our... more