
Written By Sean Ladzinski | Edited By Jess Alanis | Week 3
Many of us imagine adopted kids living their whole childhoods not knowing that the people who raised them aren’t their biological parents. TV and movies often portray a dramatic scene where the parent tells the child the truth about their adoption and the child loses a sense of their identity and feels betrayed by their parents. This isn’t really the case anymore. Today, the majority of adoptions are open, meaning both the birth parents and the adoptive parents are involved in the child’s life in some capacity. This has proven to be much healthier for the child’s development and parents in a majority of cases.
It is often a concern that when children find out they are adopted they will reject their adoptive parents and/or search out their biological parents. Adopted children can struggle quite a bit as teenagers as teens tend to be looking for a sense of identity and the feeling of being a part of multiple families can add more to the struggle (Adoption Network, 2019). Harris Sockel describes the feeling of being adopted as “a weird amalgamation of rejection and acceptance,”(Sockel, 2012). Many people fixate on the separation component of adoption, but it should be kept in mind, adoption is meant to bring families together. Adoption is all about a child being loved. As it is our mission to put a child’s needs first, it is finding that loving and caring family to raise them, take care of them, and to be there for them that drives our agency.
If you or someone you know would like to share a personal adoption story, contact us at [email protected]