Black mother says people question if she’s babysitting her white daughter: ‘They’ll just stare’

Crystal and her husband have three children, all through adoption.

“We were not able to have our own biological children,” she said. “And all we wanted was one. But [God] blessed us with three.”

Two of her daughters are biological sisters, while Crystal’s youngest, Riley, 2, is not.

Although they’ve had Riley since birth and her adoption was finalized in October 2019, the family still gets bombarded with questions.

Why? Riley is white, and the rest of her family is Black.

“People ask if we’re babysitting her. We’ll say no, she’s ours,” Crystal said.

Crystal said most times people won’t say anything and they’ll just stare. But what gets them even more confused is when either she or her husband talk to Riley and refer to themselves as “mommy” and “daddy.”

And the questions don’t just come from adults. They get asked about their relationship even at daycare.

Crystal, who shares her family’s life on YouTube, said she teaches her older girls about race and how it impacts their every day lives.

We’ve always tried to teach our older girls there’s no difference in color. There’s a difference in how we’re treated. There’s a difference in the response we get from others. But for us, we’re all the same. But we still have to teach the girls even though we understand it here, everybody on the outside doesn’t get that. So we have to address it.

She wonders when she’ll have a similar conversation with Riley or if she’ll recognize that she’s different from her sister and bring it up on her own.

But for now her family is focused on loving everyone just as they are.