LINGUISTIC DIVERSITY IN A MULTICULTURAL HOME
Assuming, from little Kayleigh's comment about her family, that the Greaves' adopted children with fairly developed language skills, being of African descent we can then assume that, besides English, they also speak a native African language.
Mr and Mrs Greaves have the responsibility to, not only learn the language but create acquaintances in people of the same culture as their children in order to try bridge the cultural gap and minimize the 'social distance' between them and their new children. They could do this by moving to an integrated neighborhood where the children will be able to socialize with people of all diversities. It is, in essence, important for couples that adopt outside of their race, in this case the Caucasian couple that adopted African children, to not isolate them from people with the same ethnic background. This is so they grow up with role models that better understand the hardships and racial stigma/bias/discrimination that comes with being a part of a distinct ethnicity.
Also, in adopting children outside their race, the Greaves are somewhat promoting the idea of a rainbow nation. Therefore, Mr. Greaves is correct in saying that the couple should raise their children as best they know how but adding onto that; not forgetting to adapt a few African customs and the children’s native tongue so that the adopted children grow up with a sense of identity of who they are and integrate it with the new sense of identity within their adoptive family. Language plays a huge role in self identity as it is a means to socialize and communicate with people similar to one self. Being multilingual does one better as it broadens the range of communication. That is to say they will be able to understand and speak with more people when they learn the other language(s).
It should not be a one-sided change. Both parent and child should embrace the different languages and customs of one another. Raising...