For Jewish adoptees of Color, finding others who share their experiences can be an important part of building belonging. What began as a research project has grown into a community where adoptees can build relationships, exchange ideas, and imagine new possibilities for connection. Through Shades of Belonging, Dr. David McCarty-Caplan, a JoCI grantee, shows how research can help illuminate an important, unmet need and help create opportunities to address it.
Shades of Belonging began with a grant from the Jews of Color Initiative to explore the experiences of Jewish adoptees of color through a powerful research study in 2024. The findings revealed a striking pattern of isolation. “Every interviewee that I talked to said that they’ve never spoken about being adopted and Jewish before,” McCarty-Caplan recalls. The study also found that only 25% of surveyed Jewish adoptees felt they had a strong sense of belonging within their Jewish community. One factor associated with a greater sense of belonging was knowing other Jewish adoptees of Color.
For McCarty-Caplan, the findings underscored the importance of making space for experiences that have too often gone unspoken. “This is about human stories,” he said. Now he is committed to “understanding why they matter, and using the information to create warmth and kindness in new spaces in a way that lifts up the voices of people that haven’t been heard before.”
Shades of Belonging is now entering an inspiring stage of growth. Supported by the Jews of Color Initiative, the “From Research to Relationship” pilot, creates opportunities for Jewish adoptees of color to connect with one another and consider what more supportive Jewish communities might look like. One expression of this work is a community circle—a small group gathering where Jewish adoptees of Color can connect with one another, exploring their unique and shared experiences at different stages in their adoption journeys and Jewish identities.
Right from the start, the gathering space provides something entirely new: “None of the participants have been in a space that was adoptee-centered and also Jewish before,” McCarty-Caplan explained. The experience directly reflects key insights from the research – having the opportunity to connect with other Jewish adoptees of Color to foster deeper belonging.
The project is also speaking in conversations beyond Jewish communal spaces. At a recent conference, BIPOC Adoptees VOICES, McCarty-Caplan presented his research to an audience that included hundreds of adoptees of color. Around 200 people attended his session on building adoptee communities of belonging, where he shared findings from the Jewish community and explored how they might inform the broader adoptee community.
McCarty-Caplan’s work has also developed alongside his participation in JoCI’s Los Angeles Professional Network (LA ProNet). Through regional gatherings, JoCI’s Pro Network model gives Jews of Color opportunities to build relationships with peers, exchange ideas, and continue developing their leadership in community.
For McCarty-Caplan, those connections create space to share his work, learn about others’ efforts, and discover opportunities for collaboration. “Through the LA Pro Network, there’s this space for us to come together to check in,” he said. “It naturally leads to collaboration.” Shades of Belonging has previously partnered with other JoCI grantees who are members of the LA ProNet, including Jewtina y Co.
These ongoing relationships and opportunities for connection within JoCI’s network have helped McCarty-Caplan develop his ideas and carry them into new strategies. Having experienced a community where people can share openly and learn from one another, he is now creating opportunities for others to find that connection, too.
“What naturally happens is this reciprocal relationship where the people who feel seen, valued, and heard actually then want to create places for other people to feel seen, valued, and heard.”
That reciprocity captures an important dimension of McCarty-Caplan’s leadership: the experience of finding community can inspire people to help create it for others. Through Shades of Belonging’s new pilot initiative, research findings are informing a space where Jewish adoptees of Color can build relationships and take action to help shape a more welcoming future.
