Meet Garrett, a Black, transracial adoptee within a domestic open adoption. Garrett's adoptive parents are white.

"You Can't Live Your Kid's Life"

"I don't care what other people think about me because I love myself. If you're gonna love me for who I am, you can come onto my ship and we can ride it together."

Here's some of what we talked about:

• His realization that he could be totally himself and stop pleasing others.
• His answer to people who say "you're parents didn't want you."
• His feelings about his birth family
• How to handle your teenager
• Why you have to let your kids find who they are
• Dealing with racism as a Black kid with 2 white parents
• How he handles racism today
• How PACT Camp helped his family talk about racism
• Working through the idea that he owed his parents something
• Realizing he's amazing
• His relationship with his sister
• Looking forward to his future

Annie's take-aways for adoptive parents:

• Take a deep breath and just watch. Don't try to control your kids.

Katelyn's take-aways for adoptees:

• Adoptees hold multiple tensions at once, extending compassion and grace even when we're hurt.
• We can feel hurt by our birth parents and stay open to them at the same time.
• We as adoptees cultivate this skill

https://www.listeningtoadoptees.com/episodes/7