China Adoptions

Your Child's Culture

For transracially adopted children, a key part of good self-esteem is a positive sense of ethnic identity. Chinese-adopted children do not have biological background information, so often their country and their heritage, takes the place psychologically, of the birthparents.

Parents who embrace their child's heritage give the clear message that everything about the child is good and wonderful. Remember that your China adoption is the really the blending of two cultures, yours and your child's. At Sunny Ridge we strongly encourage our families to work on instilling cultural pride and a positive cultural and racial identity in their children.

Fortunately, there is an ever-growing number of resources available to help families. From books to support groups, culture camps, courses in language and dance, and cultural celebrations. While children are very young, parents have the opportunity to plant the "seed of interest" in these types of experiences.

Your child's culture of origin should be an ongoing, important part of your family's life. We encourage parents to "fall in love" with the culture and celebrate it by their demeanor, actions, and behaviors. Children pick up on this and it will do much to foster positive cultural and racial identity.

Many families form ongoing relationships with other multicultural families. Some families decorate their home using multicultural themes. As children grow, many families will consider a homeland tour to China. The goal is to instill cultural pride. Your family will find ways unique and special to your family, to help make this happen.