It Takes More Than Love: A Christian Guide to Navigating the Complexities of Cross-cultural Adoption

Embrace the beauty and challenges of transracial adoption.

Being an adoptive parent is hard enough. But when your family is multiracial, things get even trickier. Parenting transracially doesn’t come naturally, nor does it just happen with time. Love is essential—yet by itself, love isn’t enough. Cross-cultural parenting also takes intentionality, listening, learning, growing, repenting, changing . . . then starting all over and doing it again. It’s hard work! And yet, when an adoptive family honors the ethnic heritages of their children, the whole family—as well as the watching world—gets to see the beauty of a gloriously creative God.

In It Takes More Than Love, Brittany Salmon shares her own family’s story of transracial adoption and offers a biblically-based guide for others following the same path. Brittany recognizes that we live in divided times and there are extra challenges whenever race is part of the conversation. But with wise insight and hard-won experience, she provides guidance about topics such as:

• Maintaining a Gospel perspective throughout the journey
• Celebrating your child’s history and heritage
• Confronting racism
• Responding to comments about your family
• Avoiding pitfalls in adoption
• Helping your kids feel represented in your home and community

No one is promising transracial adoption will be easy—least of all Brittany! Yet the extra effort is balanced by a beauty that images our eternal destiny. Until the day God makes all things new, the welcoming an inclusive transracial family can help fulfill Jesus’s words, “on earth as it is in heaven.”

BRITTANY SALMON is a professor, writer, and Bible teacher. She has an MA in Intercultural Studies from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, an MA in Teaching from North Carolina State University, and a doctorate from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. Brittany is passionate about taking theology and applying it to everyday life. And yet the people closest to her think of her as the friend who loves oversized sweatpants and a great conversation over coffee. She lives in Wilmington, North Carolina, with her husband, Ben, and their six children. You can connect with Brittany on Instagram @brittanynsalmon.