Author Talk: Rhonda M. Roorda — Torn from the Root -with Jelani Freeman

Author Rhonda M. Roorda discusses their book "Torn from the Root" at Politics and Prose bookstore in Washington, D.C.

As a Black child adopted out of the New York foster care system as a toddler and raised by white Evangelical parents, Rhonda Roorda had to learn how to walk in two different worlds. She often questioned “whether my skin was too dark” and if she “acted too white.” She recalls being haunted by feelings of shame and not “being enough.” Torn from the Root is her illuminating story of identity, belonging, and purpose, and lays bare the deep pain she felt navigating life as a vulnerable Black girl and how she healed herself.

Roorda suffered trauma and abuse in her youth, but she also developed resilience. Eventually, she resolves to find her birth family and takes readers on her exciting and agonizing journey.

Torn from the Root thinks critically about the child welfare system and the long-term impacts of transracial adoption. Roorda helps readers understand her experience, posing necessary questions about the challenges of transracial adoption. Her emotional story, full of wisdom and reflection, recounts how she “accepted the truth” of her adoption and found balance, not discomfort, in her own skin.

Rhonda M. Roorda, M.A., is a nationally recognized speaker, author, and consultant on transracial adoption whose insights have been featured on Good Morning America and ABC News, in People magazine, and in the Emmy Award–winning television series This Is Us. A transracial adoptee, she is the author of the acclaimed In Their Voices: Black Americans on Transracial Adoption, recognized as a Choice Outstanding Academic Title, and the coauthor of a groundbreaking trilogy on transracial adoption. Through her writing, research, and speaking, Roorda has become a leading voice exploring identity, belonging, and the lifelong impact of adoption across racial and cultural boundaries. She lives in Michigan with her family.

Roorda is in conversation with Jelani Freeman, a community leader, attorney and advocate for children and families. Jelani’s commitment to children & families grew from his lived experience of being placed in the foster care system at the age of 8. Jelani spent time in multiple foster homes, shelters, group homes and juvenile facilities, but later in life was sworn into the New York State Bar by the very same court system that emancipated him from the foster care system at 18 years old, leaving him on his own. Pursuing his passion to serve the underserved, Jelani began his career in the office of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, working legislatively to improve the lives of children in the foster care system. Subsequently, he provided direct services to young people at the DC Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services. His dedication to transforming the foster care system he endured and give back to young people navigating those all-too-familiar circumstances is the reason that Hillary Clinton in her book, It Takes a Village, wrote that when she needs inspiration, she looks to people like Jelani who “now works to bring opportunity to another generation of kids at risk." Jelani has served for years as a Board Member for non-profits such as the Center for Adoption Support & Education, Barker Adoption Foundation, the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute and currently serves as a Board Member for the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption. Jelani relished being a mentor and an advocate for the rights of children in the DC foster care system in his role as a volunteer Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) and also regularly volunteered at Martha’s Table since 2011.

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