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As they tend to be for all families, the years of adolescence and early adulthood are the most difficult. Extra effort and understanding are needed to defend against derogatory remarks about a child's looks or race. In later teen years, it's not easy for a white parent to explain to his dark-skinned daughter why other white parents don't want their sons to date her. Amy and Brad Russell of Mount Vernon, Iowa, refuse to let any of their seven multi-ethnic adopted kids use race as a crutch. They also know the struggle will be lifelong. "I'm going to have six young black men in the house," Amy says. "I worry for their emotional and physical safety."
Yet if there is a thread that runs through the many stories about mixed-race families, it is the amazing resilience of the kids. As difficult as the questions about their identity may be, they swiftly find ways to right themselves and move on. That resilience should prove less necessary as they move into what is inexorably becoming the mainstream.
--Reported by Ann Blackman/Washington, Wendy Cole/Mount Vernon, Michele Donley/Chicago, Timothy Roche/ Pensacola, Megan Rutherford/New York and Jacqueline Savaiano/Los Angeles