Rating: 
Summary: Walking in our children's shoes...
Review: "I couldn't love him any more if he'd been born to me." "Sure, he was born in Korea, but he looks more and more like us every day!" "We're color blind to the difference. She's our daughter FIRST and African-American SECOND." These and similar comments are the often expressed sentiments of adoptive parents who love their children to the core. Unconditionally. As "their OWN." Most would do ANYTHING for their children. Now, will they read a book for (not TO) them? INSIDE TRANSRACIAL ADOPTION allows readers a chance to get to know another aspect of their OWN transracially adopted child's experience by getting inside the heads and under the skin (or into the shoes) of children and young adults of color raised (in most cases) by Caucasian adoptive parents. For most of these adoptees, color blindness is a myth. Being "different" is a curse one day and a badge of honor the next. And while many adapt to and embrace the culture and lore of the families who love them, they also express a powerful need to find acceptance and identity within their birth culture. Gail Steinberg and Beth Hall have created a "must read" book filled with wisdom and insight---and poignant anecdotes from those who have walked the walk and now share their stories. I still "love my children as much as if they'd been born to me," but I am reminded that my experience is not always theirs nor theirs, mine.
Rating:
Summary: Walking in our children's shoes...
Review: "I couldn't love him any more if he'd been born to me." "Sure, he was born in Korea, but he looks more and more like us every day!" "We're color blind to the difference. She's our daughter FIRST and African-American SECOND." These and similar comments are the often expressed sentiments of adoptive parents who love their children to the core. Unconditionally. As "their OWN." Most would do ANYTHING for their children. Now, will they read a book for (not TO) them? INSIDE TRANSRACIAL ADOPTION allows readers a chance to get to know another aspect of their OWN transracially adopted child's experience by getting inside the heads and under the skin (or into the shoes) of children and young adults of color raised (in most cases) by Caucasian adoptive parents. For most of these adoptees, color blindness is a myth. Being "different" is a curse one day and a badge of honor the next. And while many adapt to and embrace the culture and lore of the families who love them, they also express a powerful need to find acceptance and identity within their birth culture. Gail Steinberg and Beth Hall have created a "must read" book filled with wisdom and insight---and poignant anecdotes from those who have walked the walk and now share their stories. I still "love my children as much as if they'd been born to me," but I am reminded that my experience is not always theirs nor theirs, mine.
Rating:
Summary: Walking in our children's shoes...
Review: "I couldn't love him any more if he'd been born to me." "Sure, he was born in Korea, but he looks more and more like us every day!" "We're color blind to the difference. She's our daughter FIRST and African-American SECOND." These and similar comments are the often expressed sentiments of adoptive parents who love their children to the core. Unconditionally. As "their OWN." Most would do ANYTHING for their children. Now, will they read a book for (not TO) them? INSIDE TRANSRACIAL ADOPTION allows readers a chance to get to know another aspect of their OWN transracially adopted child's experience by getting inside the heads and under the skin (or into the shoes) of children and young adults of color raised (in most cases) by Caucasian adoptive parents. For most of these adoptees, color blindness is a myth. Being "different" is a curse one day and a badge of honor the next. And while many adapt to and embrace the culture and lore of the families who love them, they also express a powerful need to find acceptance and identity within their birth culture. Gail Steinberg and Beth Hall have created a "must read" book filled with wisdom and insight---and poignant anecdotes from those who have walked the walk and now share their stories. I still "love my children as much as if they'd been born to me," but I am reminded that my experience is not always theirs nor theirs, mine.
Rating:
Summary: A note from the publisher...
Review: Advance buzz from experts in the field of interracial adoption included these comments Eloquent, interesting and intensely practical, you can't read this book without thinking differently about your own life as a child, a parent, and a member of our diverse society.-Lois Melina, author of Raising Adopted Children and The Open Adoption Experience As a first generation Korean adoptee, I carry in my bones the longing for clarity about identity and peace with my Korean and adopted nationality that Inside Transracial Adoption is all about. The authors' insights, compassion, and willingness to tackle both the joys and challenges of these pioneer families makes this a must read.-Susan Soon-Keum Cox, transracial adoptee and Vice President of Public Policy & External Affairs, Holt International Services This is an honest and insightful book that is at once very personal and universal to all transracial adoptive parents. The authors tackle the very real issues; emotions, responsibilities and joys transracial adoption asks us to take on. As a transracial parent of grown children myself I wished I had had this book when they were young. insights. As a professional anti-bias educator I appreciate the authors' insistence that parents face the realities of racism in the US. Through a stimulating combination of enlightening anecdotes and wise analysis, Inside Transracial Adoption is an indispensable resource for people planning to adopt, for parents currently in transracial families and for professionals working with transracial families.-Louise Derman Sparks, transracial adoptive parent and author of Anti-bias Curriculum and Teaching/Learning Anti Racism With remarkable insight, admirable honesty, and gentle humor, Gail Steinberg and Beth Hall expertly guide readers through the complexities of transracial adoption -- clarifying the issues and offering critical tools to help transracial families navigate the challenges they confront on a day to day basis.-Madelyn Freundlich, Executive Director, Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute This book will provide adoptive parents practical and useful information for parenting a child of a different race or culture from authors eminently qualified as both professionals in the field of adoption and as parents who have adopted transracially themselves -Joseph Crumbley, LCSW, author of Transracial Adoption and Foster Care Steinberg and Hall candidly and eloquently bare their souls about their transracial adoption journey. They share prescriptive insights based on well-documented research and personal experience. Their children provide a unique filter through which the parents learn to appreciate the child's birth culture and the child matures to embrace a multicultural world view.-Gloria King, M.S., Executive Director, Black Adoption Placement and Research Center Meaty must reading for parents and professionals involved in transracial placements.-Joseph Kroll, Executive Director, North American Council for Adoptable Children
Rating: 
Summary: Thoughtful View of a Heated Debate
Review: As a lifelong participant in the social experiment known as transracial adoption, I have studied and read numerous books and articles on the topic. Gail Steinberg and Beth Hall's book is one of the more comprehensive and thoughtful approaches to the subject. They give detailed advice to white parents raising children of color, offered in a conversational, user-friendly style. I have recommended the book to my students who want easily accessible information on transracial adoption. I highly recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: Required Reading for All Parents
Review: As a transracial adoptee and filmmaker, I am struck by how relevant Inside Transracial Adoption is to parents in general - not just those of transracially adopted children. Any parent interested in fostering stronger intercultural relationships within their families and communities will find Steinberg and Hall's book indispensible.
Rating:
Summary: Feels a need in the adoption community
Review: As the mother of 4, two of whom arrived through transracial adoption, I found this book to be immensely realistic and compassionate. It offers practical and concrete suggestions for making the most of a multi-racial family, as well as giving much food for thought to those prospective parents interesting in adopting a child of a cultural other than their own. It also has a lot to offer adopted person, birthparents and the general public. All of us could benefit from the education and sensitivity offered.
Rating: 
Summary: Negative, Overgeneralized, Poorly Written
Review: I only read through the first third of the book before I had to give up on it. Often the authors overgeneralize - they take a statement made to them by one person of color and then say that all people of color feel the same way. That's not only counterproductive, it borders on perpetuating racism.
They have a very negative mindset that I find to be discouraging. My husband and I are considering transracial adoption of an older child; if I continue to read this book, I am certain they would talk me out of it.
Plus, I find this book to be very poorly written. It lacks any coherent organization. This book is in desperate need of an editor. Even if you agree with their approach to the issues, the typos, poor grammar and lack of structure will certainly make it difficult to follow their thought process. Unless James Joyce's stream of consciousness writing style is appealing to you, you will not enjoy the way the authors jump topics every other paragraph.
There are much better books dealing with these issues available. The only redeeming quality of this book is the quotes from children and adults who were raised in multiracial families.
Rating: 
Summary: Race does NOT always matter
Review: I picked up this book based on a Hip Mama review and in preparation of our impending transracial adoption. I was looking for specifics on how adoption of a different race child affects relationships and lifes. I read the book over a two week period and half the time I was fuming. This book must have been meant to be read by people who live in a monochorome part of this country than I do. I was abhorred that Steinberg/Hall were insinuating that a black kid should be exposed to black culture continuously so that he/she could be like their racial peers. Which black culture?? Black culture is not one culture, nor would it be right to pick one of the many African cultures to expose him/her to based on, say, his/her mother's birth country. Or why would it more important to expose the Vietnamese kid to Vietnamese culture than to any other culture? How about exposing all our kids to as many cultures as we can? Wouldn't that make more sense than just exposing certain kids to certain cultures? Aren't we all better off if we know more about the rest of our fellow humans? I found the authors' focus on race overbearing and patronizing. I feel that each of our own cultures (in my case quite a mix, having been raised bi-culturally and in a bi-cultural marriage) are more important than birth race or ethnicity. Maybe I am wrong, because I'm white. So I asked some of my non-white friends and they echoed the same. My black African friend, born and raised in an African bi-cultural family in England, now in the USA and in a bi-racial, bi-cultural relationship, also voiced his objection to making race as the overpowering forced in our lifes. My Chinese-Jamaican friend, married to a white woman, agrees. So I'm disappointed with the book. Either I wasn't the target audience (living in one of the most culturally diverse areas of the country) or maybe I'm even misinterpreting some of the messages. Nonetheless, even I found some interesting information in this book that makes it worth reading (and fuming). I really appreciated the parts about the developmental stages specific to adopted children. The race issues are valid in general but I feel that Steinberg/Hall can't see the forest for the trees on that one.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful resource for domestic adoption
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. Both supportive and sobering, it dealt with difficult issues in a clear and direct manner. I am in the process of adopting transracially and feel more prepared than ever for this challenge. This book is probably geared more toward domestic rather than international adoption. My husband and I recently completed 16 weeks of training and this book gave some of the same advice and covered the same issues as our adoption classes. Thank you for charting the course for the rest of us!
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