307: Adoption in Interracial & LGBTQ+ Families

An Interview with Interracial Adoptee Tony Hynes

Adoption in interracial and lgbtq families

Adoption: The Long View Podcast, Episode 307

Tony Hynes is an interracial adoptee whose adoption case reached the US Supreme Court in the 1990s. While his case was knocked down to a lower court, Tony Hynes’ adoption ended up in a rare arrangement – joint custody between his Black birth grandmother and his two white adoptive moms. Lots of intersectionality here, including race, sexual orientation, mental health, and an at-the-time 7-year-old boy who loved all his people but was forced to choose. Can you imagine the feeling of being the rope in a tug of war? Of being the wishbone at a Thanksgiving dinner? No matter how things turn out, you end up pulled and torn in two.

It was a lot for a little boy. Now Tony is an adoption support educator at the Center for Adoption Support & Education (C.A.S.E). Hear from Tony how you can avoid “splitting the baby“ – in the parlance of the King Solomon story.

Show Notes:

Email: Hynes@adoptionsupport.org
Instagram: Tony_hy
Book: The Son With Two Moms
Articles & Interview:
Why We Shouldn’t Call Adoptees Lucky
I am The Black Adoptee of White Parents: What George Floyd Taught Me About Race and the Adoption Industry
Problematic Behaviors of Birthparents, an interview with Three Sides to Every Adoption
Center for Adoption Support and Education (C.A.S.E.)
Inclusive Family Support Model (IFSM, mentioned)

Transcript

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About this Podcast

Lori Holden (The Open-Hearted Way to Open Adoption: Helping Your Child Grow Up Whole) brings to you an array of articulate and thought-provoking guests with lived experience in adoption, each with valuable insights to share about the all-encompassing journey of parenting an adopted person from babyhood to toddlerhood to school age to teenage -- and ultimately to adulthood. Join us as we explore Adoption: The Long View.

Named a Top 25 Adoption Podcast

Lori Holden