CURIOUS. RESILIENT. CHEERFUL. Being a lifelong genealogist, I was super excited to DNA test at Ancestry. When I got my results back in September 2012, I didn’t notice anything unusual. At the time, the ethnicity estimates had very little specificity so they didn’t tell me much more than I was European, which was exactly what […]
Kyle and his birth mother, Linda, share their emotional journey of reunion after Kyle’s adoption. Their video captures their feelings of shock, relief, and happiness at being reunited, as well as their careful approach to re-establishing a relationship. Both express a sense of peace and fulfillment in finding each other after years of searching and
Linda shares about the adoption of her first grandchild. Linda and her family maintained a limited connection with him, permitted to meet once a year in public places until he was 16. This arrangement left them uncertain about his awareness of their relationship to him. She expresses regret and concern over the potential information overload
Jamie shares her harrowing journey as a birth mother during the Baby Scoop Era, a period following World War II up to the Roe v. Wade decision, when many young women who got pregnant outside of marriage were coerced into giving up their babies for adoption. She details her struggles with obtaining contraception as an
Tom discusses his wife Candace’s emotional journey surrounding the adoption of her son. Her son reached out at 18, leading to a reunion, but communication dwindled over time, causing distress for Candace. He shares how, even as a tertiary member of the adoption constellation, he developed a Ghost Kingdom after their reunion with Candace’s son. Tom encouraged
It changed so much for me, specifically how I perceived myself. If you are not in a similar situation, I understand it’s hard to grasp why it is so life changing, but it does change things, dramatically. I felt lost and that some fundamental part of my identity had been stolen from me.
Lorraine is a birthmom and an award-winning journalist, editor and author who prefers to write stories that will make a difference. Her controversial memoir, Birthmark, published in 1979, was the first from a mother to write about the grief of giving up a child to adoption.She began her career as a newspaper reporter when she
Meet Marcie, co-founder and vice president of the National Association of Adoptees and Parents and birthmom. In reunion since 2008, she co-founded Indiana Adoptee Network and testified multiple times throughout the years in support of OBC access for the sister organization, H.E.A.R., Hoosiers for Equal Access to Records, where she served as Vice-President. She also hosts the
TRUTH TELLER. PERSISTENT. INTUITIVE. So much of my childhood was confusing and made no sense. They said this, and yet my reality was that. Was I the only one who could see this? Would anyone ever acknowledge what I thought and felt? What was real? Was I crazy? Why was I so alone? Or was
LOYAL. FUNNY. DETERMINED. I had no idea that when I resigned from a position I enjoyed, my life was on the verge of changing in a way I never saw coming. See, if you keep yourself busy enough, you have the ability to ignore the things you need to sit with and even some of
