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Rhonda Roorda ’92 felt a calling that she did not want to pursue.

After graduating from 17c������� and the University of Michigan she was ready to follow her interest in urban studies.

“The minute I defended my thesis, I heard God pushing me to research and write about transracial adoption,” she said. “I didn’t want to go there. I knew I was struggling with my own identity and if I did this, I would have to deal with it myself.”

Roorda was born in New York City and did not know her African American birth mother or father. A white couple near Rochester, N.Y., adopted her at the age of two. They happened to be 17c������� alumni as well.

“My adoption was part of a spike in transracial adoptions in the early ‘70s,” she noted. “Soon after, the National Association of Black Social Workers went on the record strongly against this, calling it ‘cultural genocide.’”

For a time, these placements saw a steep drop as emotions ran high. During the next ten years, Dr. Rita Simon of American University did the first study of black children adopted into white homes. The results did not show the level of devastating effects feared—and this study and others led the federal government to pass two laws paving the way for interethnic adoption again.

However, both Simon and Roorda knew that while all children need and should have homes, more than a home is required in transracial adoption settings.

“I was relinquished, abandoned and God’s grace provided me a home,” Roorda said, tearfully. “But while love is crucial, more is required. Families need to recognize that being ‘color-blind’ in these settings is not healthy.”

Thus, Roorda partnered with Simon to produce a series of three books that share the stories of persons in transracial adoptive homes: In Their Own Voices (transracial adoptees); In Their Parents’ Voices (adoptive parents); and In Their Siblings’ Voices (non-adoptive siblings)—all published by Columbia University Press.

The series has pulled Roorda into a national conversation on the topic, and she speaks from coast to coast on the subject.

The fourth book in the series—which Roorda wrote alone after the passing of Dr. Simon—has just been published and is called In Their Voices: Black Americans on Transracial Adoption, featuring the perspectives of a wide range of African Americans on the subject from the Jim Crow Era, to the Post-Civil Rights Era.

“I’ve always connected to the biblical story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the fiery furnace,” said Roorda. “Somehow, I’ve always remembered that God was with me, from the playpen on.”

Roorda admires adoptive parents for their love and willingness to welcome multicultural children into their homes. She feels the same about open-minded adoption agencies. But she emphasizes that more is necessary.

“My challenge to the current state of affairs is that race does matter. We know that many transracial adoptees are not connecting with communities that look like them. Agencies are not recruiting and retaining multicultural staff members. These things make it hard for children to form lifelong identity,” she said.

Her new book brings African Americans to the table to talk about how they persevered and they share their wisdom with families.

“We know what works and what does not work. We need intense mandatory training,” she said.

Roorda manages this challenging work with her day job as fund administrator for the Michigan Independent Colleges and Universities organization in Lansing, Mich., an effort she has been a part of for almost 20 years.

“It’s painful, it’s gritty, but it is all blessing,” she said. “I’m OK. I know where I came from. God never allowed me to give up, and now he wants to use me to help others.”