Black Adoption Project

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About the Project

Our Experiences,
Our Stories

There are so many different experiences of adoption, of black heritage, and so many different pathways of healing and versions of thriving. The Black Adoption Project invites you to share your stories, poems, art, and other creative projects. If you are interested in contributing something, click below to learn more and to apply!
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To have a place where adopted people can have their experiences represented in many forms--existing on their own terms.

Introduction

This project is a dream of mine. To have a place where adopted people can have their experiences represented in many forms–existing on their own terms. Over time, I hope this becomes a space of creative expression for our community, in its beautiful diversity, to express pain, joys, and the complexities of adoption across our lifetimes. I welcome your poetry, reflective writing, art, music, tips, etc. Please consider submitting your work with us. (criteria and process explained below).

Why this project?

As a young social worker who practiced in the child welfare system, and again when I went to school for my doctorate, I was saddened by the portrayal of families like mine. No research was written by people who were like me, mixed race, transracially adopted, from a single parent family. Nor was there research by people who were adopted, black and growing up in black families. You too may come from a family system that is often under examined, pathologized or just completely ignored. So many stories of adoption are either stigmatized, silenced or just flattened by research.
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As a knowledge worker, I want to create a corrective action and counter space for narrations of diverse adoption experiences, stories and expressions that can be accessed freely, openly. Building knowledge that hopefully, other adopted persons, families (of birth and adoption), and the communities they live in can draw upon for healing and thriving across the life course.

What I’m hoping this does…

Because so much of the scholarship on adoption comes from voices that have privilege to speak (adoptive parents, adoption professionals, and persons who are not part of the adoption triangle) I want this to be a space for those whose voices are often NOT privileged in discussions of what adoption is like. This is where you are essential:
I invite you to contribute to this re-narration!

Not research…

This is not research. But this is a serious initiative to amplify diverse, and even conflicting stories and voices of adoption. Whatever your experience as an adopted person may be, even if you think it was unremarkable, I want to hear from you!

If you are creative, please consider contributing something! If you are a writer, please contemplate writing a short reflective piece. If you are a talker, reach out for a taped interview/conversation. All accepted contributions will appear in Our Experiences Our Stories: Changing Narrations of Adoption on Voice at a Time. We hope the first issue will be October, 2024.

What is the process?

After filling out the application form, we will send you a short survey to gain more information about your piece. After submission, all installments/written pieces will be peer-reviewed (that means that someone from the Black Adoption Project who is an adopted person and has experience in the field will review your submission). Creators and Authors will be notified of acceptance within 1 month of submission. If you are interested in contributing something or just want to learn more, please contact us!
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Gina E.
Miranda Samuels

Welcome to the Black Adoption Project, a space to collectively create kinship and community among people with a personal connection to adoption and blackness. I am a professor of social work at the University of Chicago and Faculty Director of the Center for the Study of Race, Politics & Culture. My research, teaching, and scholarship focus on transracial adoption, mixed-race identity, and the relational health of young adults who have navigated foster care, adoption, and/or home loss. My own story as a Black, mixed-race person adopted by a white single parent and a child welfare caseworker drives my explorations of how societal narratives of race, family, and home shape personal meanings of identity, kinship, and community across the life course.

Beyond teaching and research, I’m deeply committed to advancing socially just knowledge work for positive change. I serve as the founding director of the Interpretive Research Institute: Knowledge For Us By Us. My scholarship has informed national policy and practice discussions to center lived and living expertise in child welfare. I have been honored to be recognized as one of the top African American scholars in social work, and as one of the top 2% of cited scholars worldwide by Elsevier Press. My co-authored book, Multiracial Cultural Attunement, acts as a pioneering resource for professionals seeking to use anti-racist practices with mixed-race individuals and families. I’m passionate about fostering liberatory practices that are healing and community-building for those who have experienced displacements from our origins.

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    I want to create a corrective action and counter space for narrations of diverse adoption experiences, stories and expressions that can be accessed freely, openly

    Join Our
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    Our Experiences Our Stories: Re-narrating Adoption One Voice at a Time

    An invitation to you!

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