In Celebration of Black Content Creators
We are so excited to share this resource list with you, where we highlight African-American content creators in the space around family, fostering, adoption, & community care, as well as in provision of services our CASA kids often need. These social media accounts run the gamut: some highlight & celebrate the richness of family life, without any direct connection to fostering or adoption. Others are specifically fostering or adoption-focused, from a variety of viewpoints—some are from the perspective of foster or adoptive parents, or from social workers, or attorneys, or policy analysts, but many more are from the perspectives of adult adoptees (or some combination thereof), which allows for powerful learning. Far too often there are inadequate or scarce resources specifically designed to highlight & support Black fostering & adoptive parents, so it’s a joy to spotlight key voices in this space.
Following even 1-2 of these accounts per platform is an easy way to add depth & nuance to your understanding of these issues. These content creators emphasize family preservation & community care right alongside fostering or adoption, & kinship adoption, both formal & informal, is normalized & honored. Further, for parents or adoptees who may be part of a transracial adoption, or for those in this space wanting to better understand the impacts of racism to better support friends, family or children, these accounts do not shy away from conversation around dynamics of race, disproportionality or inequity. Whatever your preferred social media platform, there’s something here for you. Don’t forget to check each category, as many of these influencers are on multiple platforms, which are linked under their description. Several of the below accounts are also linked to podcasts, so there are literally hours upon hours of education available to you!
Foster Care/Adoption
Be the Bridge
Be the Bridge - This is an excellent page for anyone interested in racial reconciliation work & education. While there is a closed Facebook group by the same name for people who wish to do further reading & discussion, this page posts publicly, & often posts resources specifically tailored to transracial adoption.
The Adopted Life
The Adopted Life—If you’re a devotee of Red Table Talk, then you’ve been introduced to Angela Tucker, who is also host of the Adoptee Next Door podcast. Herself a transracial adoptee, Ms. Tucker is also subject to a documentary about her search for & reunion with members of her birth family. She has worked with adoption agencies to increase cultural competency & trauma sensitivity, & has advocated for transparency in birth records. She brings all this knowledge, depth & advocacy to The Adopted Life Facebook page. She even has an online shop where you can buy posters of The Adoptee Manifesto that she developed, in a variety of sizes & languages.
Instagram Twitter
Black to the Beginning
Black to the Beginning—Page administrators Dr. Samantha Coleman & Sandria Washington also run the Black Adoption Podcast. Both women discovered in adulthood they were adopted, & the podcast unpacks their own journey, as well as that of other Black adult adoptees, exploring a variety of stories across a continuum of formal & informal kinship adoption, adoption through foster care or private agency, & monoracial as well as transracial adoption. Their Facebook page highlights key excerpts & topics as each episode comes out.
Twitter Instagram
FAB Moms
FAB Moms—Fabulous Adoptive Black Moms—In a post during National Adoption Month, the page noted, “FAB Moms would like to help center black women who have adopted. Oftentimes, our stories are held in the margins or believed to not even exist (black people don’t adopt. ) In all honesty, adoption should not exist. We are strong advocates for family preservation! When not possible, we adopt and do all we can to center the needs of our children. Our name is intentional. FABULOUS - to counter every negative stereotype attached to black women. ADOPTIVE - to explicitly dispel the secrecy and shame connected to adoption. BLACK - because we cannot ignore the intersections (trauma, pain, and beauty) of our racial identity. MOMS - to honor our journeys to and through motherhood. We are FAB Moms.” There’s been a gap in their postings, but there are some great archives to scroll through, including shared full-length livestreams with special guests. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
WAT! (We Adopt, Too) Black Family Adoption Assistance
WAT Black Family Adoption Assistance, Inc.—Run by a non-profit organization by the same name, this account exists to increase the number of Black adoptive families by providing grant funding towards their private adoptions. The founder himself is an adoptive parent, and stories of Black adoptive families are highlighted, as well as those of hopeful adoptive parents & occasionally adult adoptees. They also regularly post when a new grant application cycle has opened.
Yes We Adopt
Yes We Adopt—Posting several times per month on both Facebook & Instagram, Yes We Adopt highlights Black voices & experiences in foster care & adoption. In November 2021, they held their 2nd annual conference, entitled Yes We Adopt: Black Voices Amplified Summit.
Hey TRA
Hey TRA—This incredibly rich account is run by Hannah Jackson Matthews, who is biracial and was adopted & raised by a white family. The page is built to support transracial adoptees, but the regular educational series she provides is invaluable to any & all followers—most recently, she had a daily series where she envisioned characters from the Disney movie Encanto as adoptees, & how they adapt & persevere in the world. For Black History month, she started a daily educational series where she’ll be posting about the history of adoption in the Black community, & she also has a 25-page coloring book for kids to introduce them to elements of Black history. She also has a YouTube channel where she gives extended talks about some of the topics she is posting on.
YouTube
Tabitha Brown
Tabitha Brown—Tabitha Brown’s calm reassurances & encouragement have been a lifeline for many throughout the pandemic. While her platform is built around her vegetarian cooking, & coaxing her family to try recipes she creates around meat substitutes, there is so much family love seen in all her videos. Her relationship with her husband, as well as the closeness with her daughters, son, & even extended family who make occasional cameos, are all woven in. She has talked multiple times about parenting in a blended family, & co-parenting with a stepparent. She also is frank & open in talking about mental health, grief, resilience, & seeking healing & joy. Most recently, she’s been speaking out against hair discrimination. If you’re late joining the party—welcome! You’ll love it here!
Instagram YouTube
Red Table Talk
Red Table Talk—This Facebook series , created & hosted by Jada Pinkett Smith, along with her mother & daughter, needs to be a mainstay of your social media diet if it isn’t already. Even if there were no episodes that related directly to our field (but there are tons!), the Red Table Talk model is a stellar prototype of having vulnerable, intergenerational conversations within a family, even that relate to old wounds & seeking understanding & repair of those hurts. But there have been so many good topics, it’s impossible to list them all! Their video playlist is helpfully organized both by seasons & by topic, so it’s easy to browse & watch what interests you. They have done episodes on domestic abuse, substance abuse addiction & recovery, sexual violence, community violence, blended family parenting, transracial adoption, racial trauma & reconciliation, and so, so much more. Check it out for yourself & dive in!
Educational Advocacy
Advocating 4 Kids, Inc.
Advocating 4 Kids, Inc.—Cheryl Poe has been one of the strongest & most consistent Virginia-based educational advocates fighting for Virginia children, & you’re likely to hear her as a speaker or organizer at a variety of conferences around educational advocacy. One of the most engaging resources she offers is regular live-stream interviews with parents of disabled children, education attorneys & advocates, and former students with disabilities. Ms. Poe is vocal against seclusion & restraint measures in Virginia’s schools, & the way they harm children, especially children of color, who are disproportionately targeted for these punishments. She also calls attention to racial bias in assessment tools & system practices, as well as the unique additional barriers that Black and Brown families & children often face when attempting to access educational services. Her passion for often-overlooked populations in special education will add nuance & empathy to your approach to educational advocacy.
Special Education IEP & 504 Plan Support Group
Special Education IEP & 504 Plan Support Group—Hands down, this is a group you need to be part of if you are a parent of a school-aged child with a disability, are a teacher of a student with a disability, or are an advocate. The group is run by Shemica Allen of Personalized Learning Solutions, LLC (below), & she posts educational articles, tips, and tons of free resources every week. Because both parents and educational advocates & attorneys from all over the country hang out in this digital space, there is no educational question you can’t get answered here. Admin is incredibly responsive in ensuring your question is answered & you get connected to resources, & maybe even a local advocate to assist you. Additionally, educational advocates frequently share upcoming trainings or broadcasts they will be holding. Basically, this is a great way to passively but exponentially increase your knowledge of educational advocacy and education-based disability rights.
Personalized Learning Solutions, LLC
Personalized Learning Solutions, LLC—A former educator-turned-advocate, Shemica Allen brings the insider perspective to her advocacy work. Based in Texas, she administrates the country-wide Special Education IEP & 504 Plan Support Group, and posts regularly there as well as on her Personalized Learning Solutions page with free helpful resources she created, as well as regular reminders of key regulations from IDEA, the federal law governing special education.
Lydia Faye
@BecomingLydiaFaye—Championing adoptees on their reclamation journey, self love, & racial identity.
As a transracial adoptee-turned-adoption worker, Lydia Faye has an incredibly rich perspective to speak into the adoptive space, which shows in her insistence in her both/and approach to adoption—that it’s possible to love her white adoptive parents, & still believe there are places they fell short in raising their black children; that love alone is not enough to support adoptees—supportive adoption services are also needed and beneficial.
The Juvenile Forensic SLP
@The_JuvenileForensic_SLP—juvenile forensic speech-language pathologist & uni professor addressing & reducing disproportionate minority contact for youth with communication disorders.
Dr. Stanford discusses how trauma manifests in communication disability, scrutinizes racial bias in standardized assessments, and examines how Black youth are too often pathologized & not appropriately assessed, & the communication disorder-to-confinement pipeline.
Twitter
@fosterwhileblackfam
@FosterWhileBlackFam—Not your average pastors wife. Mommy to multiethnic adoptees. All things foster care/transracial adoption.
This account follows a family of Black adoptive parents with 4 children, who bring with them a variety of adoptive stories. This Insta account correlates with the couple’s personal blog, as they share anecdotes & moments of family life, as well as reflections on the foster care system, adoption, & transracial adoption.
TikTok.
Black Families Matter
@Black.Families—Shining a light on black families & their love that the media won’t show.
An account devoted to the joyful portrayal & celebration of Black family life.
The Conscious Kid
@TheConsciousKid—An education, research & policy organization that supports families & educators in taking action to disrupt racism, inequity & bias.
This account consistently posts child-friendly resources for parents to help children build awareness of & appreciation for diverse heritages, and to confront racism.
TikTok
Beleaf N’ Family
@BeleafInFatherhood—Husband, father, emcee & creator. Half Trinidadian. Sharing my story to equip fathers, bring hope to mothers, & inspire children.
With presence on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook & TikTok, digital creator Glen Henry’s presence is all about #BlackLove, and showing the beauty & hilarity of family life—between partners, parents & children, & siblings. You might’ve seen his viral video at the start of the pandemic showing him tying his small daughter’s head scarf, and her attempting to give him instructions with helpful hand gestures. Almost every video he posts is heart-melting, side-splitting, or both, & he weaves in wise advice along the way.
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Raquel Martin PhD
@RaquelMartinPhD—Licensed clinical psychologist & podcast host.
Dr. Martin gives advice on dealing with inter-family conflict, getting the most out of therapy, and supporting mental health overall, especially for those additionally experiencing racial stress or trauma. She’s known for a series where she analyzes culturally competent vs. incompetent care, where she roleplays 2 clinicians presenting a case to each other, & where assumptions & unspoken questions are unpacked.
Crutches & Spice
@Crutches_and_spice—Black girl magic + disabled pride
Imani Barbarin is the disability rights voice you need in your life NOW. She educates about the intersections of racism, ableism, & the pandemic, & about daily life with a disability. A communications specialist by training & profession, she’s started giving COMS “assignments” to her followers: she assigns a TikTok or pop culture piece to view, gives a list of questions to consider while watching, & then responds to the discussion that happens in the comments.
Twitter
Danita Platt
@DanitaPlatt—Mompreneur helping folks manage life + some food.
Danita Platt is a “gentle care” mom, educator & influencer who explores the impacts of disability & mental health struggles on housework, care tasks, and family life. She offers tips, tricks & methods of tackling daily life chores in more manageable ways, with free printables and resources on her website, & is consistently responsive to listener questions. She also delves firmly but graciously into racial dynamics as they intersect with the topics they cover. Her page is a great place to listen & learn.
Instagram
Raising Cultures
@RaisingCultures—As they share scenes from their busy, joyful, multi-generational family life, Keia & Richardro Jones-Baldwin explore so many facets of adoption that link to the variety of ways they grew their family: foster care, community care, open adoption, reunion & ongoing contact with birth families, navigating dynamics around transracial adoption, & so much more.
Instagram YouTube
The Bronx OT
@TheBronxOT—Ms. Dionne shows her work with preschool-aged children, & shares fun, kid-friendly activities to build fine motor and other skills. She recently started posting on TikTok, but has a much larger library of supplementary Instagram posts.
Instagram
SLP Camille
@SLPCamille—With experience both as a school-based speech therapist, & now in private practice, this speech-language therapist talks caregivers through tons of good info on watching for warning signs of language delay or disorders, skill-building & getting the most from speech therapy, and so much more, including navigating practice as a Black speech therapist, who make up only 4% of all SLPs.
ACS Morton
@Aldricj6—This account is pure joy, & all about family love! This young dad records voiceovers for videos of his baby girl, giving words to what she might be thinking or attempting to communicate as she interacts with him. They are adorable together, & the words he gives her are hilarious! Do your TikTok feed a favor & give a follow!
Brittney George, LPC
@BrittGeorgeLPC—As a local mental health therapist who has worked with littles in our cases, we keep our ears tuned to hear what Brittney George has to say! She tweets about a wide range of topics, including local matters; maternal health; abuse, trauma & the work of healing from it; the field of counseling; & intersectional advocacy. She has a gift for being able to concisely put her finger on the way systems respond to Black & brown community members, & how this contributes to how/if they are able to access help from these systems. Definite food for thought when considering the array of systems that families in our cases come in contact with.
April Dinwoodie
@JuneInApril—April Dinwoodie hosts a podcast on adoption (called Born In June Raised In April: What Adoption Can Teach the World), & she regularly tweets about new episodes & key takeaways, as well as about supportive resources & best practices, drawn her own experience as a transracial adoptee.
TikTok
Equity Matters Podcast
@EquityMattersPodcast—This account opens up a host of new resources, as it is also connected to a podcast (the Equity Matters Podcast) which interviews social workers each episode from underrepresented communities. The podcast & its Twitter account explore inequities & factors driving disparate outcomes, & how to pursue thriving for all.
Instagram
Brittany Nash
@TheDailyAdoptee—This is the host account for both Brittany Nash & the platform she has created around The Daily Adoptee, a blog devoted to the experiences of transracial adoptees. In addition to frequent tweets on her own thoughts, she also took on the task of assembling a master Twitter list of transracial adoptees & content creators.
Facebook Instagram
Fallon Speaker
@FallonSpeaker—As the only attorney on this list, who works exclusively in the area of family law & child welfare on behalf of parents, Fallon Speaker brings a unique & valuable perspective to conversations around foster care, & she is particularly robust around topics of family preservation, supports for parents, & the impact of racism in the child welfare system. In fact, we first came to know of Ms. Speaker from the joint presentation she did with Voices for Virginia’s Children & Virginia Poverty Law Center on that very topic. You can check it out here.
Voices for Virginia’s Children
@VAKids—Voices for Virginia’s Children coordinates the unified Foster Care Policy Coalition for the state of Virginia, & they also address key areas of child mental health, education, health & equity matters. They do a fantastic job of relationship-building & education of legislators on key needs, & updating the coalition & broader public about the status of bills in key focus areas at each step of the legislative process. This is a great account to follow for action alerts during the legislative season, & they are also active on Facebook & YouTube. Additionally, their foster care policy expert Allison Gilbreath just started a TikTok account as well!
Facebook TikTok YouTube