A couple with adopted children has spoken out after getting accused of being kidnappers countless times.
37-year-old Harry Moore and 43-year-old Jennifer McDuffie-Moore from Collingdale, Pennsylvania, are proud and loving parents who have been fostering kids since 2009.
Three years ago, the couple also decided to adopt twin brothers Trevor and Brayden after they were taken from their birth mother who was dealing with drug addiction.
Years after becoming parents of two white boys, Jennifer and Harry are often still subjected to racist abuse and threats whereas strangers sometimes threaten to call the police on them simply because their family is unique.
“A lady had been watching us playing [at the playground] and when one of the twins had a tantrum she told me she was going to call the cops. I scooped the kids up and she thought I was stealing them,” Jennifer said as she recalled one of the unpleasant experiences.
She also admitted that they were stopped and questioned by police officers “countless times,” whereas passersby often treat them with suspicion as if they were kidnappers.
The couple first came upon problems when they wanted to adopt Keenan, who is also white. As they insisted, it took them several years to finalize the adoption simply because of their skin color.
“We often see transracial adoption done the other way – a white family adopting a black child. Even doing the paperwork there are a lot of questions about our ability to foster children who are white. It took us 2,695 days to adopt Keenan because we are black,” Jennifer added.
“We have conversations about race all the time – in our home we talk about it, we know that everyone is different, you have to acknowledge it and not pretend to be color blind.
“Last year was crazy. We saw all these racially charged incidents happen and we had to have conversations with our children.”
Though they may attract a lot of strange looks, Jennifer and Harry can’t imagine their family any other way because they know they did the right thing by giving children in need a place called home.
“I try my best not to feed into any nonsense about what people are feeling or doing. Don’t get me wrong, I hear little whispers and I get looks going to the supermarket and getting gas with the kids. But I’ve never paid attention to it or fed into it,” Jennifer says.
Jennifer and Harry are proud parents of two biological kids, 11-year-old Kourtney and 21-year-old Joy, and four adoptive kids including 10-year-old Keenan, 8-year-old Sanchez, and 3-year-old Brayden and Trevor.
“People don’t realize that when children come to you in infancy, they have never known another mom or dad. From the time they were three months, we’ve woken up to look after them and changed every diaper and attended to every boo boo,” Jennifer concluded.
“We never tell the children what to call us, we let them label us – and Braydon and Trevor call us mommy and daddy.
“Instead of scrutinizing what color people are or their gender or their preferences, people should understand that love really does support a family. There are so many kids out there without homes.”
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