Raising a Biracial Child

Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom.

Are you raising a mixed-race child? Join our conversation with Nicole Doyley, a biracial woman raising biracial kids, and the author of What About the Children: 5 Values for Multiracial Families.

• Terminology: what is preferred-biracial, mixed race, multi-racial, mixed?
• Biracial includes Black/White, Black/Asian, White/Asian, Hispanic/Black, Indigenous/Black/Hispanic. In this interview, we are talking about mixed-race, but families can also be mixed culturally.
• Is it true that mixed-race is the fastest-growing group in the US?
• Issues facing biracial people in the US. Based on personal experience as well as a 2020 Vox Survey of Mixed Americans.
  • No man’s land of racelessness
  • Having to always answer the question “What are you?”
  • Not fully accepted by either race
  • Wanting to ditch one race so as to be fully the other race
  • Feeling isolated
  • Confused identity
  • Rejecting the idea of having to fit into just one box 
• As a child, you didn’t like the ambiguity that biracial brought to your life. You say you felt a “two-ness”. But you came to view being of mixed race as a blessing rather than a curse. Why, as a child did it feel uncomfortable to you and how did you grow to accept it?
• Do you think a mixed-race adopted or foster child being raised by parents of a different race from them but the same shared race with each other will face different challenges? 
• In the past, it was common to tell adoptive/foster/grandparents that the world was going to treat their child as Black (or another race), so you should focus your efforts on raising a Black child and not emphasize their other race. People in the US see race first. How should parents handle it?
• Does it matter if the child’s dominant features make her look like she fits more squarely in one race?
• 5 values for raising a biracial child:
  • Awareness
  • Humility
  • Diversity
  • Honesty
  • Exploration
• Benefits/advantages to being mixed-race:
  • Can function in both majority and minority environments
• Tips for Raising a Mixed-Race Child

Support the show

Please leave us a rating or review. This podcast is produced by www.CreatingaFamily.org. We are a national non-profit with the mission to strengthen and inspire adoptive, foster & kinship parents and the professionals who support them.

Creating a Family brings you the following trauma-informed, expert-based content:

• Weekly podcasts
• Weekly articles/blog posts
• Resource pages on all aspects of family building