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Are you raising a mixed-race child? Join our conversation with Nicole Doyley, a biracial woman raising biracial kids, and the author of What About the Children: 5 Values for Multiracial Families.
- Terminology: what is preferred-biracial, mixed race, multi-racial, mixed?
- Biracial includes Black/White, Black/Asian, White/Asian, Hispanic/Black, Indigenous/Black/Hispanic. In this interview, we are talking about mixed-race, but families can also be mixed culturally.
- Is it true that mixed-race is the fastest-growing group in the US?
- Issues facing biracial people in the US. Based on personal experience as well as a 2020 Vox Survey of Mixed Americans.
- No man’s land of racelessness
- Having to always answer the question “What are you?”
- Not fully accepted by either race
- Wanting to ditch one race so as to be fully the other race
- Feeling isolated
- Confused identity
- Rejecting the idea of having to fit into just one box
- As a child, you didn’t like the ambiguity that biracial brought to your life. You say you felt a “two-ness”. But you came to view being of mixed race as a blessing rather than a curse. Why, as a child did it feel uncomfortable to you and how did you grow to accept it?
- Do you think a mixed-race adopted or foster child being raised by parents of a different race from them but the same shared race with each other will face different challenges?
- In the past, it was common to tell adoptive/foster/grandparents that the world was going to treat their child as Black (or another race), so you should focus your efforts on raising a Black child and not emphasize their other race. People in the US see race first. How should parents handle it?
- Does it matter if the child’s dominant features make her look like she fits more squarely in one race?
- 5 values for raising a biracial child:
- Awareness
- Humility
- Diversity
- Honesty
- Exploration
- Benefits/advantages to being mixed-race:
- Can function in both majority and minority environments
- Tips for Raising a Mixed-Race Child
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Please leave us a rating or review. This podcast is produced by www.CreatingaFamily.org. We are a national non-profit with the mission to strengthen and inspire adoptive, foster & kinship parents and the professionals who support them.
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