As China’s one child policy comes to an end…

An interesting, brief article on the personal and much broader effects of this policy, especially on ideas about adoption in the U.S. and what a family looks like.  Read the whole article here.  I was most struck by this line:

The adoption of (mainly) girls from China — again, along with other significant factors — has contributed to fundamental changes in American families and, most pointedly, to fundamental changes in how many if not most people define and understand the word “family.” It’s not just about bloodlines anymore.

Who is a family, what does a family look like, and how can we confront the myths that don’t serve us any longer?  Interracial and intercultural adoption prompt us all to ask these questions, and to value the difficult balancing act that adoptive parents and adoptees engage in every day.  At its best, it is like a complciated ballet, something beautiful, a loving and functioning family, made out of something potentially very challenging.