Interracial adoption: One couple's story

Those who say love is colorblind never considered adopting a baby of a different race.

By Carol Lloyd and Hank Pellissier

Aug 4, 1997 | "Maybe I don't want to raise a black child."

"Well, maybe I do."

"Cultural colonialist."

"Spineless militant."

"Neoliberal."

"People, people," interrupts the therapist. "We're talking about adopting a child here, not a political platform."

We both turn on her. "Says who?" we cry. "Have you read the statistics, the law journals, the autobiographies?"

The therapist blinks and opens her mouth. Nothing in her family counseling training has prepared her for debating the finer points of race relations and child welfare policies.

Parenting, we are raised to believe, is personal. Learn active listening, emotional expressivity and limit-setting and you are on your way. But when we embarked on the road to public adoption, we stumbled into a political minefield -- only to realize we were fighting on opposite sides of the battle.

Next Page: Selfless altruism or racial imperialism?

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