“Dad, did you feel weird in Africa?" The question from my 12-year-old son, Yosef, caught me off guard. My face must have told him so. "You know," he continued, "because you were white?” Maybe it was because I was jet-lagged and tired of chasing my 2-year-old daughter around the gate area during our flight delay. Or, maybe it’s because I rarely think about race even though my son is black and the rest of our family is white. We adopted Yosef nearly 11 years ago from Ethiopia, and our recent trip to visit my wife's relatives in the nation of Senegal would be his first back to Africa … [Read more...]
Cleveland Dad Collects Backpacks for Foster Care Kids in Need
Darren W. Carter received his birthday wish and then some, and so did some children in need. Carter, an organizer with our Cleveland Dads Group, asked friends and followers on Facebook in December to donate a backpack or duffel bag filled with clothes, toiletries or personal supplies to him in lieu of presents last month. His goal: collect 48 bags with gear to donate to a foster care organization to mark his 48th birthday. Here's why: Carter and his wife, Theresa, have been working with the local chapter of the national nonprofit Specialized Alternatives for Families and Youth of … [Read more...]
Somewhere There is a Child In Need of Adoption
Editor's note: To mark the conclusion of National Adoption Awareness Month, guest columnist Tobin Walsh writes about his (and every) family's worries about such a life-changing decision. When I thought about adopting a child, my list of reasons about why I couldn’t began like this: Money Family impact Time Energy Work When we entered an adoption process close to 11 year ago, we were also too busy, too broke, too tired, too everything. But, still we did it. Our lives were forever changed. As I sit in my office today, re-reading that list, I quickly realize that … [Read more...]
When My Child Becomes Our Child
Editor’s Note: City Dads Group is proud to occasionally feature writing from members of The Handsome Father, a support community that helps connect, prepare and inspire gay fathers. In this piece, Patrick Roth writes about letting his new husband into his daughter's life. I was a single parent during my daughter’s preschool years. It was a period of transition for us. We moved from the West Coast to the Midwest, contracted to build our first house and learned to live with the new dynamic of single dad and his little girl. I can remember tucking her in, reading bedtime stories and … [Read more...]
Parental Lessons on Race, Culture from a Foreign Land
It starts with the term gweilo, a frequently used Cantonese slang word for foreigners -- most commonly, white people. Its literal translation is “Ghost Man” or “Foreign Devil.”
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Editor’s note: Former NYC Dads Group member Marty Forth and his family left Manhattan for Hong Kong in early 2015. He wrote this about his experience with the unique cultural differences he faces in raising a child of mixed race in a foreign country for our NYC blog last year. We knew our move to Hong Kong would not mean everything would be magic dragon dances and … [Read more...]