"Do the best you can until you know better. then when you know better, do better"
- Maya Angelou
About the Program
In 2007, the Halton Multicultural Council received 3-year funding from Ontario‟s Trillium Foundation to develop and pilot a Canadian-based pre-assessment education and training tool for families considering adopting or fostering children from a race or culture different from their own. Our goal was to address the unique needs of children and parents involved in transracial adoption and offer tools and support to explore these complex experiences further.
The curriculum development committee consisted of social workers, transracial adoptees, adoptive parents, and professionals in the field. Based on a comprehensive literature review and research grounded in the experiences of prospective and current foster and adoptive families, the Transracial Parenting Initiative (TPI) was ahead of its time and was piloted with over 70 families in Ontario.
TPI continues to prepare individuals to adopt transracially in an increasingly race-conscious world.
The curriculum helps participants:
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identify their strengths and limitations for parenting transracially;
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challenges them to think critically about race, culture and privilege for themselves and their child;
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offers them the opportunity to reflect on their motivation for and commitment to raising a multiracial/cultural family;
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and offers tools and strategies to help them navigate the transracial parenting journey.
Susan Crawford, MSW, PCC offers the 10-hour Transracial Parenting Initiative program virtually three (3) times per year.
If you are a prospective adoptive or foster parent interested in transracial adoption, please register for one of the upcoming sessions (minimum 6; maximum 10) by clicking here or the 'View Schedule' button.
Certificates of completion are available upon request.
Funded by the Ontario Trillium Foundation
Support for Foster & Adoptive Parents
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Are you a prospective foster or adoptive parent interested in/open to/or pursuing a transracial placement?
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Are you looking for ways to support your racially or culturally diverse child?
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Do you want to explore additional tools, resources, and skills to prepare you for raising a child of a different race or culture from your own?
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Do you want to ensure your child will grow up and thrive in a supportive, open, and race-conscious family but don’t know how or where to begin?
This is the aim of the Transracial Parenting Initiative and we hope you will join us on this learning journey as you pursue transracial foster care and/or adoption.
ABOUT SUSAN
My name is Susan Crawford, I was the lead researcher and curriculum developer of the program, and together with a group of highly dedicated, experienced, and personally invested professionals, created this program to support prospective families, like yours, to understand, raise, and support a transracial child in your family.
