Stop wondering how your child feels about adoption and start listening to the many adult adoptees who are sharing their experiences.
“Did You Ever Mind It?”: On Race and Adoption
I tell prospective adoptive parents to take a good, hard look at their social circles, their neighborhoods, their churches, their communities and think about how those places and spaces will look and feel to their child.
“Where Did You Get Those Dimples?”
Even among same-race families physical differences can prompt curious questions. How did you handle it?
Are Adoptees Selfish For Wanting To Search?
Finding my birth family has never been an attempt to replace anyone else, but simply an effort to find myself, a desire my adoptive family understands.
“Prison Baby”
In this personal essay, one adoptee describes all the questions she wanted to ask her birth mother when she visited her birth country: a jail.
Dear Mom and Dad!
An adoptee’s letter to prospective parents lets them know what their children might be thinking.
“The Day I Joined a Forever Family”
A 10-year-old recalls the day a foster family became a forever family for him and his sister.
“My Parents Never Judged My First Mother”
With her swollen belly, my classmate reminded me of my own first mother. People expected her to be ashamed, but I wondered, how can someone be ashamed of the mother without also being ashamed of the baby?
“Blood Doesn’t Mean Family”
After reuniting with my birth family and studying in my birth country, I felt closer to my adoptive family than ever.
“What ‘Real’ Means to Me” – An Adoptee’s Story
Being asked who your “real parents” are is part of being an adoptee. Even though I know now what parenting means, those four letters still make me cringe.
Adoptees Speak Out About Adoption, Birth Parents, Race, and More
Adolescent adoptees offer first-person wisdom to fellow adoptees.
“Beating the Odds”
My prison birth could have set me up for a life of failure. But the love of my families has led me to one of resilience and hope.
“Growing Up Feeling ‘Chosen'”
Children’s understandings of and personal fantasies about their adoption stories may differ from what you tell them. My version saw my parents wandering the aisles of “Baby Market.”
Building Identity: “Who Can I Be?”
From workshops and playshops to heritage travel and adoptee camps — there are tons of way to teach your kid about their culture!
“They Remembered Me”
A Korean adoptee learns that human nature doesn’t always follow perceived “best practices.”
[Book Review] The English American
Alison Larkin’s semi-autobiographical novel centers on an adoptee — raised in England, but born in America. Read the review, here.
[Book Review] In Their Own Voices
In this collection of candid interviews, adoptees shed light on the complex and controversial topic of transracial adoption by sharing their own experiences.
Looking Back: “Where Do I Belong?”
In the film “Outside Looking In,” a transracial adoptee explore the complexities of his identity.
“Right At Home”
Heritage trips help children discover their past — and influence who they become. Here, one adoptee describes his journey back to his birth country of Colombia.
The Resilient Child
Don’t allow your child’s feelings about adoption to go underground.