Child Advocacy

Exercise #1 (25p)

Listen to the following TEDTalk:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gT5OpU2PlS4&app=desktop

and answer the following: 

1.  What are the three “Rs”all about?  What are they and what purpose do they serve. (15 points)   
2.  The speaker states that the question of where you are from is more about the intention of the questions and not so much about the specificity of the answer.  What does that mean? (5 points)
3.   Provide two (2) ways what the speaker says influences your journey to cultural competence and provide an explanation why (5 points).

Exercise #2 (25p)

Read the following “bill of rights” for children in foster care in Iowa, used by the Foster and Adoptive Parent Association of Iowa 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.

Please identify and justify the following:

1. Which 3 rights are the most important to you? Why? (15 points)
2. Which 3 right are the most surprising to find on this list? Why? (10 points)

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A Transracially-Adopted Child's Bill of Rights

Adapted by Liza Steinberg Triggs from "A Bill of Rights for Mixed Folks," by Marilyn Dramé

Every child is entitled to love and full membership in her family.

Every child is entitled to have his culture embraced and valued.

Every child is entitled to parents who know that this is a race conscious society.

Every child is entitled to parents who know that she will experience life differently than they do.

Every child is entitled to parents who are not looking to "save" him or to improve the world.

Every child is entitled to parents who know that being in a family doesn't depend on "matching."

Every child is entitled to parents who know that transracial adoption changes the family forever.

Every child is entitled to be accepted by extended family members.

Every child is entitled to parents who know that, if they are white, they benefit from racism.

Every child is entitled to parents who know that they can't transmit the child's birth culture if it is not their own.

Every child is entitled to have items at home that are made for and by people of his race.

Every child is entitled to opportunities to make friends with people of her race or ethnicity.

Every child is entitled to daily opportunities of positive experiences with his birth culture.

Every child is entitled to build racial pride within her own home, school, and neighborhood.

Every child is entitled to have many opportunities to connect with adults of the child's race.

Every child is entitled to parents who accept, understand and empathize with her culture.

Every child is entitled to learn survival, problem-solving, and coping skills in a context of racial pride.

Every child is entitled to take pride in the development of a dual identity and a multicultural/multiracial perspective on life.

Every child is entitled to find his multiculturalism to be an asset and to conclude, "I've got the best of both worlds."

Transracial Parenting in Foster Care & Adoption - Strengthening Your Bicultural Family

Found at http://www.ifapa.org/pdf_docs/TransracialParenting.pdf (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

Copyright ©1998-2008 by Pact, An Adoption Alliance

http://www.pactadopt.org