Fostering Young People of a Different Race

Credit hours:

3.00

Course Summary

Especially while in foster care, a young person's care and development, should be the top concern of all supportive adults involved. Foster parents may need to take unique steps to ensure the young person's well-being if the child's cultural background is different from than their own. This means creating an intentional plan to develop a thorough respect and understanding of the young person's religion, cultural values, customs, and beliefs. As outlined in the following course, honoring a child or young person’s cultural connections, practices, and specific needs can give a young person a sense of permanency and belonging that will benefit them in emotional, mental and spiritual ways.

In this course, you can expect to learn:

Considerations to weigh before committing to becoming a parent to a young person of a different race
Actions to take to ensure children and youth in care maintain a strong sense of racial identity and connection to culture
the importance of cultural connections for children and youth in care
Strategies to minimize the impact of being placed in a home that is culturally different to a child or youth’s own identity and culture
Steps to take to make your home a bicultural home that celebrates a bicultural family

Step 1

Review the "Transracial Parenting in Foster Care and Adoption" guidebook created to help parents and children in transracial homes learn how to thrive in and celebrate their bicultural family; and for children to gain a strong sense of racial identity and cultural connections.

Step 2

Watch the following video to gain perspective of the impact living in a home outside of their own culture or ethnic background can have on a young person in foster care

Step 3

Review this booklet "In the Rainbow: Cultural Best Practices in Foster Care" created by C. Kimo Alameda, Ph. D, to learn how Hawai'i, the country's most diverse state, is mindful of the trauma youth have experienced coming into the foster care system and how to minimize the impact of being placed in a home that is culturally different to a child or youth’s own identity and culture.

Step 4

Join the discussion in the comments below to answer the following question:

What challenges have you faced, or what challenges might you anticipate facing, as a bicultural foster parent?

Step 5

Finished the module? If you are logged in as a subscribed user, take the quiz to earn your Continuing Education Credit hours and certificate!

Course Discussion

3 years 3 months ago

tdregely said:

I do not have any fears of fostering/adopting outside of my own race. I feel that it is extremely important to embrace different cultures, and would hope to surround myself and my family in an environment that does the same.

3 years 4 months ago

Stevengall said:

I am raising my grandson whom is biracial. I am afraid of him and us having to deal with racism directed toward him in school or activities.

Carolyngall said:

We are fostering and adopting our grandson who is biracial. Wow!!! This course just made everything seem scary and hard. We are oh so very white in a predominately white area. We knew that we didnt want him to be the only brown child in school amd that we will eventually confront racism. But the rest of this course just made me feel inadequate. We already have a lot of challenges. I think these requirements just sunk my battleship. Its a good thing he is only 2 and I can put most of this in the worry about later pile.

km16471 said:

My family is biracial and we are raising two of our grandchildren. Having experienced multicultural living with my own children has helped tremendously with my grandchildren. But I never stop learning so I can adapt with the current times and better help my grandchildren thrive.

tmmhndrsn said:

We are a multiracial family, i enjoy when we get new children we talk about their culture and how or if they celebrate holidays. I try to do as many traditions they have so they can feel like part of the family but also ue it as a learning experience for the other children in the home

Tinymutt said:

I try to incorporate cultural diversity in my home and learn more about different cultures and I meet the children where their at.

mikenjulieclark... said:

we are a multiracial family to begin with so i guess being different is normal in our house. in fact we encourage it.

heatherwood said:

A challenge I have faced while fostering African American children as a Caucasian women surrounded my 9 year old girl. She said "her hair was not beautiful because it was not straight like mine and my bio daughters". This was saddening because I want her to see the beauty in her identity and culture. I had an African American friend put her hair in a braided style with beads which she really enjoyed that hairstyle.

Nadine60 said:

As a foster parent I have not yet had any children outside of my own race yet. I know it is bound to happen and though I do not worry about how I would receive they child(ren), I do worry about the child(ren) feeling like they can relate to me. But the universe language is love so I believe we can break barriers that way!

rachelmjones said:

My biggest fear as a foster parent would for the child to feel left out or not welcome or loved in our home

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