I have three beautiful children. They are both white
European/Semitic and black African/Native/Hispanic/American.
A wonderful mix in my opinion. We have had no problems with
our children identifying themselves beyond someone assuming
t hat my son speaks Spanish (which he doesn't) and someone
else telling my daughter she doesn't look dark enough to have
a black father (which she does).
I am desperately searching for literature for
children that presents inter-faith/int er-race relationships.
If anyone has any ideas or suggestions I would gladly accept
them. And please don't limit this to the races or faiths I
have presented in this message. I am interested in all
combinations.

Well, coming from and interracial family as I do, I would have to fully agree
with most people, that the only problems with interracial children is that
of the people around them. My siblings have no problem with themselves or our
family situa tion. The only problem is the people saying, "You come from an interracial
family?" and "You don't look like you come from an interracial family!"
What is that supposed to mean? I would say to other families like mine, keep up the
good work and raise them how you want them to be raised.

My husband and I , he is black I an white have raised our daughter who is now thirteen in a loving and caring environment and have shown her that although she may face prejudice against her in her life, what is important is how she feels towards herself. The people around her may disapprove of her racial heritage , they may also try to make her fit a category ie balck, white they may also force her to choose between the two. This situation is here compounded by the fact tht she is also bilingual French and Englis and that in this province racial prejudices unfortunatly include language biases. she has not yet experienced racils slurs or worse other than being called chocolate on some occasions and some disapproving comments coming from one of my relati ve. through it all she has amazed us , she tells us she is proud to be different , as she puts it, she has mamy friends, of different nationalities and she has developped a sense of individuality and self worth that we bothe admire. I am however co ncerned as she is now entering her teenage years that she may face added difficulties especially in regards to dating and forming new friendships. We would be grateful for any insights into how to better prepare her for the challenges of the coming years your readers may provide. Thank you.

I am a 30 year old white female who is very happily married to a
31 year old black male and we are the proud parents of a beautiful 16 month
old girl. I am a former teacher with a great interest in literature and
cannot find any books with biracial children in them. I have seen a few, but
they all talk about a huge identity crisis that the child is having. I am sure
that eventually our child will have questions about the difference in our and our
extended families skin color , but for now I would just like for her to see that
there are others like her. We live in south Florida and have not
had any social problems, but do not have any interracial couples as friends and therefore
she rarely sees other children like herself. Does anyone out there know of any
children's books that have biracial children as the main character? I would really
appreciate any information.

I just found this site today and am so excited to have this wonderful resource through which to exchange ideas with other interracial families! I am German-Irish-American and my husband is African. We have been married for one year and plan to start a f amily soon. I will be watching this site to see what you all have to say about raising interracial children. As a couple living in Washington D.C., we have experienced very little prejudice from the outside world in the 5 years we have been togther. The only resistence we experienced was from my family, but all is fine now! Thank you for contributing to this discussion!

I am a multiracial (Cape Verdean/Native American/Irish)
woman. I have been married twice & have two sons; a 12-year
old who is brown-skinned, and a 4-year old who is
very fair. I am trying to teach my sons about their
varied heritage, bu t am greatly frustrated by ignorant people
who look at my sons and decide that, since one is fair and
one is dark, they cannot possibly be brothers. They have
a close relationship, but I worry about whether encountering
this type of prej udice will affect how they view each other.

I am a European/American who is mother of thr biracial children. They are of European/african American heritage. I live in the Pacific NW, where I have never encountered as much blatent,cruelty as I am now. I have so many things to say, but I thought I wo uld just say a little here now, as I am emotionaly exhausted. I moved into a mew home a few months ago, and found a swastica painted on my fence, and another on the back porch. Afew weeks later, I began receiving recorded messages from the KKK. My childre n and I have been witness to, and victim to several racist attacks, where there is no support from the bigoted community in which we live. I am doing the best I can to give my children the strength they need to overcome this, but it increasingly becomming more difficult. I plan on moving back to the bay area, SF most likley, but in the mean time, these things are keeping me near tears. I have always been a strong woman, and have overcome many obstacles, but my heart is breaking at this point. I would love support. Feel free to email me, and I am happy that I have found this site.

I am an "older" member of an interracial marriage (my
husband is African (Rwandan). We have been married for more
than 27 years and have raised 3 children, mostly in Africa.
I am glad that I DID raise them there, as the prejudice is
much less of a problem than here. My two oldest came here to
go to University and then my husband and I with the youngest
had to come when war broke out in Rwanda. Although we live in
a very small university town in southwest Wisconsin, we have< br>been very lucky in the people we have met here. In general,
people have been very good to us, considering that we came
with nothing. The high school went out of its way to help
my son adjust, and the church we go to (Free Methodist) has< br>also been super kind and good. My husband says he has no
problem racially, really. This area of Wisconsin is basically
quite racist, but we have few problems. The only problem is
that it's pretty boring here! My children, now all in co llege,
have had lots of help from the school. There are occasional
problems outside the town, but nothing they haven't been able to
handle.

Part of the reason, I believe, that they can cope is that
they have had a firm grounding in a culture, in their case,
the Rwandan culture. If children don't have a firm grounding
in the cultures that are a part of them, they will be lost
and unable to cope in later life. They have seen both my
husband and I stand by what we believe, not caring what
people may have thought. I think this example has made them
also strong. They always have some standard to fall back on.
They see us look beyond the exterior, and they have gotten
plenty of practice doing the sa me.

Children need stability and peace in their home life. Then,
no matter what their cultural, racial or ethnic background
may be, they will survive difficulties, coming out stronger.

They also learn to be grateful that they hav e had a so much
richer experiences in their lives than most of the people
they encounter. That makes them more open, and in the long
run, they have more friends than others.

I could go on, but if anyone needs support, I am willing to
help.

Rita

My wife and I are a zebra couple and have one son. He is
eight years old and hasn't had any problems that I know of.
Sometimes his classmates are suprised to see a white ( and
I don't like using the word white, just like I don't like
using the word black) dad since his complexion would suggest
unirace parents. He refers to himself as mixed and that's
about as far as we've gotten with racial identity.
Why do we have to have racial identity? There are basically
only t wo races anyway, decent & indecent.

I am a White Female age 32 married to an Haitian American Male also age 32. We live in the Northeast, in a fairly well racially mixed area. We have 3 children ages 4, 14 months and 3 weeks.
We have just registered our oldest for Pre-K and have enc ountered our first
"problem" with raising interracial children and how they are
"looked" at by our government. The bottom line was that they expected
me to choose between listing my son as White or Black. They
did not have a category f or interracial children and expected you
to make the choice. This has been the only instance of racial issues
that we have faced, but I would like to hear from other parents that
have faced similar situations, and how they have handled it. I am
also interested to see if there is a support group of sorts that
our family can become a part of.

We are a bi-racial family through adoption (our daughter is AM/Cauc) and are searching for a bi-racial infant to adopt. Please see our home page (http://www.nwrain.net/~toddt) for details about us and our search. If you know of an agency or other resour ce that specialises in bi-racial adoptions please email us (toddt@nwrain.com).
Thanks in advance!
Melanie, Todd and Anna

I am a single parent of a 6-year-old interracial son; his father
is African-American but is no longer a part of our lives.
Although now living in Africa, my son and I are Americans, as
is my son's father.
While of mixed race myself, I am not African-American, and
I don't want my son to be unaware of that side of his
heritage. However, I am at a loss as to how to teach him about
this. Do not think that living in Africa is a gateway to all
things African-American; th ere is a big difference between
the two cultures.
I would very much appreciate any suggestions readers can give
me to ensure my son understands and appreciates his African-
American background. Thanks.

Please help! We are an interracial couple. I am black
and my husband is white. We live in a very small community
with very few african americans. I going to have our first child
soon. We are worried about how our child will be treated by
other children. I know this should not bother me, but I can't
help but worry. Anyone with comments we would love to hear from you

Just a short comment to those who are trying to adopt a child of a different race. We did, after suing the State of Arizona in Federal Court. We changed the Foster and Adoption Placement Policy for the State of Arizona three years ago. If anyone out th ere is having trouble, please drop us an email. We can offer moral support and possible some insight on how to fight state agencies.

I look at our two, (biological siblings) and do not see Mexican babies. I see my babies. They have truly bee n a God sent, and I would not trade them for the world. Jayme and Erik know their Hispanic grandmother and have open communication with her. She is the link to their Hispanic Heritage. So, again, if you need some help, who knows, maybe we can help you b et the system.

I am a white women married to a African-American man and we have two sons. One is five and the other is five months. The five year old is dark like his father and the baby is very light like I am. Since the baby we have had trouble with people comment ing on the differences in color and it is really starting to bother me. My oldest is also having trouble adjusting to the differences, especially with ignorant people commenting in front of him. I would really appreciate any advice or insight on how to deal with people's comments and looks of astonishment over the differences in my two beautiful children. But more than anything I want to help my children to love themselves no matter what others think. I think my oldest feels separated from me and his little brother from the difference in color. As well this will happen when my youngest gets older and realizes the differences between him and his father and brother. I would appreciate any help that could be offered to me to help my family. I was real ly gllad

Greetings,

I am helping a girl friend who is biracial do a research paper
about raising biracial children. She is looking for
books and papers that discuss this topic and how these children
are more optimistic about the wolrd around t hem. Constructionism
and optimism in raising bircacial children is what she is looking for.
If this is the wrong forum to ask about this I am sorry.
Thank you.

i have been raising two afro-american/white boys one is
is 15 and the other is 13. because of the way we class
sify in this country, my boys are forced to pick bet
ween white or black. what info is available to addre
ss this issue?

I would be very happy to recieve some suggestions how I can keep my childrens identity strong. I am a white swedish women and their father is an african-american. I am single and my boys are 3 and 4.

I am a student at the University of Maryland @ College Park and I am do a research paper on how biracial families foster identity in their children. If anyone is in the DC-Baltimore area and willing to be interviewed, please e-mail me. I need responses ASAP.

My name is Therese Montes and I am writing my thesis paper on
interracial children from a sociological point of view. I
would appreciate any help or comments with regards to the
issues surrounding interracial children and how they should < br>be raised. I would be interested in hearing comments about
the affect of interracial chilldren on culture, family and
society in general. Please send e-mail. I would greatly
appreciate any comments.

Excuse me to interrupt,
But I am doing a research paper on the discrimination of biracial children and adults. This research paper allows me to find out how a classified group, that I am not a part of, is taken away of their American Dream, t o persue in life. If anyone out there has just a comment or a little story on how they have been put back because they were biracial, I would tremedously appreciate your time and story. Sorry if this seems to be an intrusion on anyone's private life, p lease forgive me.

Excuse me to interrupt,
But I am doing a research paper on the discrimination of biracial children and adults. This research paper allows me to find out how a classified group, that I am not a part of, is taken away of their American Dream, t o persue in life. If anyone out there has just a comment or a little story on how they have been put back because they were biracial, I would tremedously appreciate your time and story. Sorry if this seems to be an intrusion on anyone's private life, p lease forgive me.

I am so very excited, like others, that this site has been created. I am the single mother of a one year old multiracial son. I am "generically" caucasian and his father is black, native american as well as caucasian. I am hoping to correspond with people who are multi-racial themselves or who are raising multi-racial children. I have experienced racism, but my son has not because of his age. I am hoping to learn how I can not only better prepare and support him, but also how I can encourage a sense of pr ide in all of his ethnicities. Thank you.

Wow! What can I say. This is just what I've been looking for. I for sometime have had a vision of developing a support group here in our town for parents of bi-racial children. I appreciate everyones input. My husband (African American-raised in the South-High Point, NC) and I (German heritage-raised in the North-Traverse City and Grayling, Michigan) have 3 boys. They are 10, 9 and 5. We have been together since 1983. We met in Charlotte, NC. Everything about us is totally opposite yet we can't l ive without each other. It is called love. He is 45 and I am 32. He has a B.S. in Environmental Health and Industrial Hygiene and a Masters in Career and Technical Administration. I am a registered nurse and currently half way through with my Bachelor s of Science in Nursing.
We lived in the South for a short time and then moved back to the North. We go back South often. There is a definite difference in society's reactions to us from one part of the country to the other. People stare. I thin k mainly curiousity, sometimes hate looks from both white and black people. I have said for sometime that I am going to write a book so that my three sons have a correct history of their parents.
We feel our kids are well adjusted. They have self- esteem and are well accepted in their mainly white school.

I am the mother of two biracial children. My daughter is
African-American and Caucasian, and is dark skinned. My son
is Pacific Islander and Caucasian, and is very light skinned.
I find it hard sometimes explaining how come brother and
s ister are different colors. Their fathers are not in their
lives so I have no support from them. I don't want them
growing up thinking they are different in any way and I want
them to experience all of their cultures. I love my childrenvery much and want the best for them. If anyone has any
ideas or suggestions please let me know.