Show THE RU8SELL8 Amy and! OnMFVn 6WKWHI IVERI Aaa IaJUi Wujl wl Mm I t Draw Tt and MN Vf Utah (eantarh B twins to their family—Ariana and Andre —who also are of mixed race "We want to teach our children that everyone is equal but all people are different" A1 says "But no matter what the differences are they can do anything they want Far yean professionally I've preached that you can do what you want to do no matter your sex or the color of your skin Now I have the chance to do that personally as well" Rachel who is Hispanic adds 1 don't see color just a human being and hopefully that will transfer to our children" At that very moment Karina and Alexis in the backyard are playing Four families who chose to adopt children of races other than their own tell why they did it and what it has meant to them side-by-si- de tanxeveryowweloonKscotohtind or colorblended families Indeed while adoptions of for- eign-bomch- il- 100111 dren across ra- cfal lines (K many rising eon COlOP I American chil- - human AaM RnicHnpHr ingin foster care L at linma A just a )0jntf and I About Love BY LYRIC WALLWORK W HEN A CHILD needs a hug it doesn't matter what color the mother's arms are" As Amy Russell says this she is holding her youngest child Seth He is bimcial while Amy and her husband ait white ‘tjoior" she adds still cradling Seth “doesn’t make you the parent Love does" Some people will find these to be provocative wads A few may even become angry reading them Today transradal adoptions like die Russells’ are a heated issue in our nation But right now there also are tens of thousands of American COVER PHOTOGRAPH BY EDDIE ADAMS children of mixed-rac- e African-Americ- an or Hispanic heritage who are waiting for a family— any color family— to take them home What follows is the story of four families who put love before color Theirs is an exceptional story and it may change how you think about all families— even your own When AINeuharth 74 the founder of USA Today and Freedom Forum and his wife Rachel Fomes 47 a chiropractor wanted to adopt a second child they didn't request a bi racial baby "just a baby" In December 1996 they got a call A baby girl was waiting for them "There WINIK wasn't a long line of prospective adop- tive parents" Rachel says 'Irecause her mother was white and her father was African-America- n 1 was just hoping and praying that she would be healthy " A! and Rachel arrived at the Florida hospital with their blond blue-eye- d daughter Alexis— then age 5 and also adopted— in tow "1 remember Alexis standing in the hospital room with that baby saying ‘Everyone who wants to take her home raise your right hand' and her arm shooting up" Al recalls his voice cracking with emotion And Karina came home with them lust last month the couple added a pair of hope that will transfer to our Rkk Barth of the School of Social Welfare at the University of California at children” SOyS 0116 § Berkeley has found that nearly a third of white adoptive families were discouror aged from adopting a mixed-rac- e black child often by adoption professionals But Barth points out "Most African-Americaoverwhelmingly support transradal adoption especially if it removes children (tom foster care and many biological mothers choose to place their children transracially Still at the end of the 20th century some organizations like the National Association of Black Social Workers vocally oppose transradal adoption "We don't want children tobe in foster care' lattice Shindler acting head of adoption ns |