I was at Morton Plant Hospital facilitating a meeting between an adoptive couple and birth mom. The birth mom was a kind, young, African American woman. I had worked with her for only a few months. The couple was Caucasian from the Midwest and had been waiting to complete their family, through adoption, for quite a while.
The couple could not be more excited. They kept asking the birth mom questions to get to know her better and staring at the baby on and off.
Then the dad said something sweet. He mentioned that he worked with an African American woman and she said she would teach dad how to care for the little girl’s hair.
It seemed like a silly thing to talk about, but he just wanted to reassure the birth mom that they would do everything they could to take care of the little girl and embrace her heritage.
Caring for someones hair who comes from an ethnicity different than yours can seem like a small issue, but it is something many adoptive couples have to think about. There are many resources out there for couples adopting a child from another ethnicity. And one of the resources that deals with this seemingly small issue is Chocolate Hair Vanilla Care.
This is a great website. It has helpful tips and creates a community for discussing this unique issue. Check it out.
