Books, booklets & multimedia

In Black and White
The story of an open transracial adoption

	Price: £7.95	BAAF 2007 ISBN 978 1 905664 10 8

This is an honest account of one couple’s attempt to create a family. Nathalie and Tom, a white couple living in 1970s Britain, wanted to have a family but knew that they could not have children of their own. Adoption was their aim and their wish.

At a time when black children drifted in the public care system, it seemed right and desirable to establish a transracial family. But Nathalie and Tom went further: they wanted their two adopted children to remain connected to their birth family and to grow up with pride in their heritage. Today “open adoptions” are becoming more usual, but 30 years ago Nathalie and Tom were breaking new ground. Neither they, nor the professionals advising them, foresaw where this approach would lead and how it would affect the children, their birth family and the whole process of adoption.

In Black and White describes how the children settle in with their new family with varying degrees of enthusiasm and success. It follows them as they get to know their birth father’s family and in time make the dramatic decision, one by one, to leave their adoptive home. But that is not the end of the story…

This extremely candid account throws light on the feelings of the adults and children involved against a background of challenging issues including child development, open adoption, race and mental illness.

In spite of the many difficult times and disturbing outcomes, In Black and White provides a positive account that celebrates the strength of families and relationships. It is an unusual story, bravely told, that will stimulate thought and debate on a wide range of highly relevant and topical issues.