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About Melissa

Melissa Guida-Richards s an author, adoptee, and advocate based in Pennsylvania. She was adopted in 1993 from Colombia to a family in the USA. Her second book, What White Parents Should Know About Transracial Adoption, received a starred review from Publishers Weekly and was labeled a “must-read for parents who adopt” by Library Journal. The book unpacks the challenges transracial adoptees face and provides parents the tools they need to fix the mistakes they don’t even know you’re making.⁠ Her upcoming book, What White Parents Should Know About Transracial Adoption: The Workbook, is out July 2023.

Our Promise

Adoptee Thoughts will offer an inside look from a transracial adoptee’s perspective on international adoption, race, identity, and more. It will delve into the nuances of adoption, and will not shy away from the tough topics. So if you are adoptee, have adopted, or plan to adopt a child of color, this is the place for you.

A companion to What White Parents Should Know about Transracial Adoption, this practical workbook guides readers to better understand transracial adoption and do the work of anti-racist, trauma-informed parenting.

Available for Preorder, and Out July 18th, 2023

“This is such a necessary resource despite the uniqueness of every adoption and every
adoptee. I commend Melissa for taking the painstaking effort to help parents navigate
what could be on the horizon and more importantly, to validate adoptee perspectives and
experiences!”

—Michelle Li, journalist, Korean adoptee, and co-founder of
The Very Asian Foundation

The White Fragility for transracial adoption-practical tools for for nurturing identity, unlearning white saviorism, and fixing the mistakes you don’t even know you’re making.

“Adoptee Thoughts  podcaster Guida-Richards (Bedtime, the Ultimate Battle) takes on racism in the adoption industry in this trenchant survey… This is a powerful, worthwhile addition to the growing body of work on race and parenting.”

Publishers Weekly, starred review