Torn from the Root
After decades of listening, the lens turns inward.
A fter more than three decades of listening to the voices of Black Americans affected by transracial adoption, Rhonda M. Roorda turns the lens toward her own life.
In Torn from the Root, Roorda moves beyond the research and advocacy that have defined much of her professional life to tell a deeply personal story of identity, family, race, belonging, faith, and resilience.
The result is not simply a memoir about adoption. It is an invitation to consider what happens when the questions we spend a lifetime asking finally become our own.
A story of identity, belonging, and voice.
For Rhonda M. Roorda, transracial adoption was never an abstract idea. It was the story of her own life.
Adopted as a Black infant into a white family, Roorda grew up navigating questions of race, family, identity, and belonging that would eventually shape her life's work.
After decades of writing about transracial adoption from a research and advocacy perspective, she now offers readers the intimate story behind the scholarship.
Find the BookThe questions underneath the story.
Identity
Who gets to tell us who we are?
Belonging
What does it mean to feel at home in your own story?
Family
The bonds we inherit, build, question, and redefine.
Race
The realities that shape a life across racial lines.
Faith
The beliefs, questions, and tensions that accompany the journey.
Resilience
Finding voice, meaning, and movement after loss.
A memoir that opens the conversation.
Torn from the Root has prompted conversation among reviewers, scholars, adoption professionals, and readers about the complexities of transracial adoption and the lifelong work of understanding identity and belonging.
“Roorda's memoir offers an intimate examination of race, adoption, identity, and belonging, drawing on a lifetime of experience and reflection.”
“A deeply personal account of growing up Black in a white adoptive family and the complicated journey toward understanding where she came from.”
“Roorda brings honesty and courage to the lifelong questions surrounding adoption, family, identity, and connection.”
“A compelling exploration of race, identity, family, and the complicated terrain of transracial adoption.”
Readers are finding their own questions in the story.
Coverage in Fostering Families Today highlights the way Roorda's personal story can create space for broader conversations about transracial adoption and the experiences of adoptees.
The memoir creates room for difficult questions about race and identity.
Roorda's lived experience adds another dimension to decades of professional work.
The conversation continues long after the final page.
Readers are responding.
From adoptees and adoptive families to readers encountering transracial adoption from a new perspective, the response continues to expand the conversation.
An Important Perspective for White Folks Considering Adoption Across Racial Lines
A thoughtful reader response emphasizing the importance of listening to the lived experience of Black transracial adoptees.
Excellent Eye Opening Book!
A reader describes the memoir as illuminating and valuable for understanding the complexities behind transracial adoption.
Excellent Read
A strong reader response to Roorda's candid account and the questions it raises about family and identity.
Unfortunately Torn from Her Roots…
A reader reflecting on the complicated emotional realities of adoption, separation, race, and identity.
A Firsthand Account of Transracial Adoption
A reader highlighting the value of hearing directly from someone who experienced transracial adoption firsthand.
I Couldn't Put This Memoir Down!!
A reader describing the memoir as compelling, personal, and difficult to put aside once the story begins.
Then the story
left the page.
A memoir becomes something more when readers enter the room. Across bookshops, universities, libraries, and community spaces, Torn from the Root is becoming a conversation.
The conversation continues in the room.
These moments are part of the continuing conversation around identity, adoption, family, race, belonging, and voice.
From the page to the room.
And from the room back to the page.
The story continues in conversation.
Every question, exchange, and personal reflection adds another layer to the story.
Books bring people together.
Questions make the story bigger.
Author. Speaker. Storyteller.
Every event begins before the first question.
Two chairs. A book on the table. A room waiting to listen. Before anyone speaks, there is already an invitation: come closer, bring your questions, and enter the story.
Every story has another chapter.
Whether you're interested in a speaking engagement, media conversation, book event, or simply want to connect with Rhonda's work, the conversation doesn't have to end with the final page.
Connect With Rhonda