This powerful conversation between adoptee and educator Isaac Etter and his adoptive mom Julie Etter offers an honest look at what it takes to raise children across race, culture, and difference. With vulnerability, humor, and deep reflection, Isaac and Julie share the realities of parenting in a multicultural family from early conversations about identity and belonging to navigating bias, school incidents, grief, and emotional safety at home. This course is a rare opportunity to hear both perspectives at once: what an adoptee needed, what parents tried, what helped, what hurt, and what they learned together over two decades. Families will walk away with practical tools for open communication, conscious parenting, repairing ruptures, and creating a home where everything is on the table and every child feels safe being fully themselves.
Isaac Etter is a transracial adoptee and social entrepreneur reshaping how we support adoptive families. Adopted at age two, he brings both lived experience and professional expertise to his work as the founder of Identity and Parenting Different.
A sought-after speaker and educator, Isaac sparks honest conversations about how to support adopted children while they grow up. He equips parents and child-welfare professionals with the tools and understanding needed to build homes where adoptees feel seen, heard, and truly valued
Julie Etter is a mother to 5. Her oldest and youngest are adopted with 3 bio kids in the middle. She is passionate about equipping children with the tools to become lifelong learners and thinkers. She teaches humanities classes at different levels. Julie resides in Lancaster, Pa with her husband and 3 of her children still in the home. Nothing brings her more joy than time with her perfect grandchild and when all of her children congregate bringing lots of noise and chaos.
