Panelists share tales of “growing up adopted”

November 09, 2011

By Jennie C., mother by adoption to one daughter

Celebrate Adoption kicked off National Adoption Month 2011 with a panel discussion featuring five adult adoptees. More than 30 participants attended the event held on Sunday, November 6.

To begin the discussion each of the five panelists shared their diverse stories. Sunita and Kiran were adopted from India as children, Teresa and Jay were adopted domestically as infants via closed adoptions, and Alex—also adopted as an infant—grew up in an open domestic adoption. The panelists generously shared their perspectives on adoption in general, as well as their own experiences. The audience joined their laughter and tears during the emotional discussion.

Some of the most memorable points for me were:

• Hearing Sunita and Kiran talk about the lack of information they have about their birth families, the circumstances that led to their adoptions, and how they’ve each processed the resulting emotions through the years. I was particularly moved by hearing Sunita talk about returning to India as a young teen and visiting the train station where she was found as a child.
• Listening to Teresa and Jay share their experiences searching for their birth families, and the support they did (or did not) receive from their adoptive families. It was also fascinating to hear about the new connections and relationships they since formed with their birth families.
• How reaffirming it was, as an adoptive mother in an open adoption, to hear Alex talk about how normal it felt to grow up in an open adoption with on-going, continuous contact with his birth mother.
• Panelists sharing how important it is for parents within a transracial/transcultural adoption to acknowledge physical differences, explore cultures of origin, and prepare children for the reality of how they will be perceived by the outside world.
• Seeing what a positive impact adoption has been in the panelists’ lives, despite the grief and loss that accompany it.

The panelists freely shared advice and answered several questions from the audience after telling their stories. The diverse audience included adoptive parents, adoptive grandparents, foster parents, prospective adoptive parents, and family members of the panelists.

Written feedback from the attendees was overwhelmingly positive, with comments including “I love hearing from adult adoptees,” and “We think [the panel] was very informative. Would love to have this [workshop] again in the future with other adoptees.”

Thank you again to our wonderful panelists and their families for sharing their stories with all of us. I’m already looking forward to our next educational event, Celebrate Adoption’s annual transracial/transcultural workshop on Saturday, February 4, 2012, featuring speaker Rhonda M. Roorda, co-author of the Trilogy of Transracial Adoption: In Their Parents' Voices: Reflections on Raising Transracial Adoptees; In Their Own Voices:Transracial Adoptees Tell Their Stories; and In Their Siblings' Voices: White Non-Adopted Siblings Talk About Their Experiences Being Raised with Black and Biracial Brothers and Sisters.

Tags: adoptee , adoption , adoption support , adoptive family , adoptive father , adoptive mother , adoptive parent , birth father , birth mother , birth parent , birthmother , birthparent , cincinnati , domestic adoption , international adoption , Rhonda Roorda , transcultural adoption , transracial adoption , workshop

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