Educational Media Reviews Online

This freewheeling but ultimately touching and thought-provoking documentary explores transracial adoption. Writer and director Phil Bertelsen’s parents were among the pioneers of transracial adoption in the early 1970’s and Bertelsen himself is a biracial adoptee in a multiracial family with white parents. The production takes an approach more like memoir than traditional documentary, focusing heavily on Bertelsen’s family – sometimes effectively and sometimes not. Portions of the film are simply too personal, as when Bertelsen appears to be harassing rather than interviewing his adoptive parents about the way they raised him and his siblings. However, the film does rise above family squabbling to get to some truths about transracial adoption and perhaps life in general. Bertelsen admits that he has struggled with identity issues, and he attempts to explore this through efforts to teach his nephew, also a transracial adoptee, about black culture by taking him on a visit to Harlem. This portion of the film is particularly interesting as viewers – and Bertelsen himself – realize that the nephew doesn’t seem to share Bertelsen’s concerns.

A parallel story line in the film follows a modern day white family as they go through the process of adopting a black baby. Interviews with the head of a transracial adoption agency and two women who do training sessions for potential parents quickly reveal some of the assumptions and misconceptions people have about transracial adoption. The scene where the child’s birth mother surrenders her baby to the adoptive parents is particularly moving. The film as a whole recognizes both the challenges and difficulties inherent in transracial adoption but also the benefits and love that go into these relationships. This is an excellent choice for contemporary issues courses, social workers, people considering adoption of any sort, and adoptees. Recommended.