This Sunday at 3 p.m., the South Orange Public Library will kick off an Adoption Film Series with the documentary "Adopted," directed by North Carolina-based filmmaker Barb Lee.

The series takes place over three Sundays and is co-sponsored by South Mountain Families with Children from China. "Parenting the Adopted Child" will be shown after "Adopted"; the other two dates for screenings are March 29 and April 5.

I recently interviewed Lee about the film and its relevance to our community.

What inspired you to make "Adopted"?

Five years ago, I met my co-producer, Nancy Kim Parsons, who's also an adoptee.  We talked a lot about our own respective stories and about what was happening with today's adoptive families.  We wondered if parents today were more equipped to help young kids of color, so we started to investigate. From there, we decided we wanted to create a tool for adoptive families to begin to talk, and I mean really talk, about the issues that are most difficult to all of us, and that means, race, loss, guilt and validation.   We hoped an adoption film that wasn't autobiographical might be such a tool.

What do you think the "take-away" message is of the film for adoptive parents? For adopted people?

I think the message for adoptive parents is that adoption is complicated and that it will be both the hardest and most long-lasting job you will ever take on. It's got the same level of difficulty as parenting birth children, plus two or three more additional layers of emotional and spiritual challenges that will challenge your very core, so you need to understand the gig, before you dive in.

For adoptees, the message is simple. You're not crazy, you're not alone and you get to have a voice.

What do you think are some of the underlying difficult questions that the film raises?

Well, the questions we've heard that are most difficult are usually around race or sexual promiscuity. Talking about sexual issues is always difficult in the United States because of our culture, but it's even more difficult among parents thinking about their daughters. It's hard to lean into, because it feels so uncomfortable. Actually, as charged as race is in this country, I still think it takes a back seat to discussions about sex.

SO/M is a very diverse community, with many kinds of families. Although the film is about adoptive families, what does the film have to say to non-adoptive families?

I hope it conveys that families are complicated and that there is no happily ever after. There's only the journey, and all that it brings us. Families everywhere are complicated politically, emotionally, socially, psychologically and spiritually. That's just how we human beings are.

I also hope the film speaks to those individuals who have feelings of not belonging inside their own families, because I think that's a common phenomenon for many people, adopted or not. Lastly, I like to think of the film as a kind of self-assessment tool for those families who are considering adoption. I hope when they watch this film they can begin to truly ask themselves if they want to take on a lifetime of nurturing, guiding and supporting a young person who needs a special kind of family. For all prospective parents, I think the key question should be, Am I ready to spend most of my energy, love, attention and focus on someone other than myself? For adoptive families, that question trumps all others.

And as a follow-up to that question, how would you suggest parents raise the issue of diversity with their kids?

Well, I don't think discussions of diversity should be perceived the way we used to think about sex, meaning we need to have "the talk." If you have a child of color, trust me, diversity has been an issue for her since the moment you brought her home! You're not going to inform your child one wintry day about the fact that she's different from most of the other people in her life. She knows and she doesn't remember not knowing this fact. Just because your son or daughter can't articulate to you all of the issues they face doesn't mean that they're not experiencing being different and that all of their interactions with their peers are as you assume. Talk about race, racism, class differences, white privilege and stereotypes as a regular and ongoing conversation in your home. To do that, you have to get authentically curious about what's involved, so that you're not saying things such as, Well, I was made fun of when I was a kid because I was chubby. It's not the same as the racism your child faces and if you want to be close to your child, you must understand why that's so.