If you adopt internationally, you will probably want to help your children feel pride in their national heritage. We do need to emphasize our children’s similarities to us and our unity as a family, and our American citizenship. But most adult adoptees report that they felt different from others anyway, especially if they lived in a non-diverse community, and wished they had been taught to take pride in their country of origin and its people.
Larger adoption agencies often sponsor cultural events, picnics for families with children from a certain culture, and a family weekend “culture day” or “culture camp” with workshops on various countries. Adoptive parents often organize playgroups or get-togethers so that their children can be around other families where children look different from their parents. There are formal, national groups of families who have adopted from certain countries, such as Families for Russian and Ukrainian Adoption (FRUA), Korean Focus, Families with Children from China and Families with Children from Vietnam .
Perhaps one of the most common ways of learning about and celebrating a heritage is “culture camp”. This may be a weeklong daycamp for kids, a four-day campout or cabin camping for families, or a resident camp for kids. Some of these are sponsored by adoption agencies, some by adoptive parent groups, some by churches or nonprofit organizations of the target culture, some by adult adoptees. Adult adoptees from the target country are often counselors and mentors at these camps, regardless of who organizes them.
Camp activities vary but usually include arts and crafts, music and dance of the country, cooking ethnic dishes, learning basic words in the language, and learning about life in the target country (what is housing commonly like, for example). Specific activities may vary depending on the country, for example, tai chi at a Chinese camp, tae kwan do at a Korean one. Camps are usually aimed at adopted children, their siblings, or children of adult adoptees.
Elementary age camps usually do not have specific discussions of adoption, though it is hoped that children benefit from being around others like themselves and gain self-esteem from seeing positive role models of their ethnic group. Camps for middle and high school students usually build in time for discussion groups of adoption-related issues. To facilitate the comfort necessary for discussing such issues, teen camps may build community with just-for-fun trips such as a waterpark or games place as well as country-related day trips to places such as ethnic bakeries.
Overnight camps usually include typical camp activities like swimming and campfires. Family camps include both family activities and age-appropriate activities or toddler childcare while parents talk with other adoptive parents. One such family camp is Colorado Heritage Camps, which runs 4-5 day camps for families with African-American children, Indian children, Chinese children, Korean children, Cambodian Children, Latin American children and more. Families come from all over the country to attend these camps, often planning their summer vacation around the camp and the surrounding area.
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