All colors are beautiful in God's eyes.

Unfortunately, that perspective is not always prevalent. Too often, human eyes see the differences - not the similarities - in a world filled with diverse cultures and peoples of all colors.

Colors of Love, a support group for families linked by a common bond of transracial adoption, knows that all colors are indeed beautiful - and that not everyone shares that viewpoint.

"Once you've adopted a child of color, you're no longer seen as a Caucasian family - you’re a family of color and it changes your life," says Cyndi Thelen, president of the local group that began in 1998 and was recently formalized as a non-profit organization.

She readily admits that she and her husband, Jim, were not fully aware of the changes their lives would undergo when they adopted their son, Grant, in 1996 - and became a 'family of color.' The family at that time also included Cyndi's children by a previous marriage, Katie and Evan.

Following the addition of a daughter, Leah, in 1997, the couple looked for other families who had adopted children of African-American descent.

"We felt the need to communicate with other parents who would be having the same experiences we were," Cyndi says, noting that children who are transracially adopted have to work through both the challenges of adoption and ethnicity.

"All children who are adopted have to overcome that obstacle (of being adopted). In a family with white parents, it's obvious to the world that the child is adopted."

Colors of Love offers help in both areas: it provides a venue for parents to 'talk through' issues related to adoption, and offers support specific to the needs of African-American children who are growing up in a 'family of color.'

The group of five parents and their children meet monthly at each other's homes in the St. Johns and Lansing area. The organization also hosts presentations on a quarterly basis that feature guest speakers who provide information on issues related to transracial adoption.

The quarterly meetings are open to parents and prospective adoptive families from across central Michigan, aided in part by the Michigan Foster and Adoptive Parent Association.

"The association has been helpful in putting us in touch with families, and as a resource for information on the issues we deal with," Cyndi says, noting the most recent meeting in January was well attended.

"One goal of Colors of Love is to help match up these families who are live in close proximity to each other so they can begin groups like our own."

The presentations also help create new relationships with individuals from area African-American communities which will aid in the growth and development of the adopted child.

"A real challenge for us as parents is to link the African-American community with our families - it's a long, slow process of cultivating friendships," Cyndi says. "We want our children to celebrate their heritage and culture."

The support group also hopes to create a better understanding among area residents about African-American history and traditions via presentations to church and school groups and other organizations.

"Most of the families who are part of our group haven't encountered any blatant racism, but we have run into ignorance - there's still a lot of education that needs to be done," Cyndi says.

We're always open to invitations from area groups to talk about transracial adoption, and would also like to work with the school district to develop a training session for teachers."

Statistics on transracial adoptions

The following information is taken from the website of the National Adoption Information Clearinghouse.

"Although available statistics are rough estimates, several sources show that the percentage of transracial or transcultural adoptions in the United States is significant.

"One source estimates that 1,000 to 2,000 African-American children are adopted by Caucasian families each year.

"Data from the Immigration and Naturalization Service show that U.S. families adopted 7,088 children from other countries in 1990. This means that there were roughly 8,500 transracial or transcultural adoptions in 1990. In that same year, there were almost 119,000 adoptions of all kinds.

"Since approximately half of the adoptions in any year are stepparent or relative adoptions, in 1990 there were about 59,500 nonrelative adoptions. The percentage of transracial or transcultural adoptions comes out to more than 14 percent."

For detailed information on transracial adoption, visit the NAIC website at www.calib.com, or the Adoption Network at www.adoptiveparents.com