Dear Friend,

For many of us, our children are the single most important part of our lives. We want the best for them, and make every effort to provide them with all the tools they need to become happy, healthy, productive adults who feel good about themselves. These are important goals for everyone, but for children adopted into families of a different race, this can be especially important. In my own family, I have two children who joined our family through adoption. My daughter and son are African American. We have been so blessed by adoption, and feel that our multi-racial, multi-cultural family is special. Together, we can celebrate and learn about our diverse backgrounds, while growing together as a family. Families like mine are becoming more and more common. In 2008, approximately 130,000 children will be adopted in the United States. 17% of them will be of a different race than their new parents.

Along with the countless joys, transracial adoptions bring special challenges. My children do not have many African American Adult role models in their lives. They do not get a lot of opportunities to see families who look like ours. We often receive questions and unwanted attention in public. Even daily tasks such as hair and skin care can be challenging. To address these issues, a group of African-American community leaders, transracial adoptive families, and the Fox Cities Rotary Multi-Cultural Center have joined together to develop a very special retreat for transracially-adopted youth.

UMOJA is a Black Heritage Experience created for families who have adopted or are fostering African American children or children from the African continent and the diasporas. Our camp provides an opportunity for children ages 3 to 18 and their families to examine, explore, reflect, understand, and celebrate the rich and diverse traditions of Black identities and culture in the United States. The program takes a family-based approach by providing a fun, nurturing, celebratory, positive and safe environment for all its participants. Umoja is committed to helping children and their families experience a sense of pride about Blackness in American society. 31 families and 130 participants joined us for our first camp, which was held in October of 2007. Our evaluations were extremely positive and many of the parents commented on how their children finally made friends with someone with which they could identify. One parent wrote, “Umoja has moved me, emotionally and intellectually, to a new place. The individuals who spoke, those who nurtured the idea and planned the conference opened up a new world for me. And I was filled with hope that Umoja would continue.” Our next camp will be held in October this year

Umoja is committed to helping children and their families experience a sense of pride about Blackness in American society. I hope you join my family in this unique experience.

Thank you,

Julie Ryno
Founder

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Amy Steuer B.S.W, C.S.W.

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