Diversity in Families

First things first, my article did not find a home where I sent it.  Not enough people would be interested.  Hm-m-m   I’m sending it out again.

I am taking a summer class dealing with diversity in our society.  Very good class, but I am now aware how an adoptee must surely feel when so much talk is about our cultural background, our ethnicity, so many things an adoptee would be unable to answer.  I truly believe we do have a culture of adoption, just as we have a culture of poverty and all the long recognized “culture of …”

Genealogy and bloodlines are very important to most people and an adoptee with no knowledge of who they are must feel as if they are not part of the human race.  How can an outsider explain it?  How can an adoptee explain it?   Even if we cannot explain or define it, we must make an effort to recognize that the feeling exists.  We must make the effort to change that.

We can work to open sealed adoption records for all adults.  We may not like the truth, but we can deal with it when we know what it is.  For the life of me, I cannot understand why another adult has the right to decide what is best for the adult adoptees.  That time has long gone (if it was ever there).

When we say nothing at all, we are condoning what others do or say.  If you believe adults have the right to decide what is best for themselves, say so.  Say so in lots of ways, letters to politicians, newspapers, on talk shows, write articles.  Be vocal.   Together, we can make a change.

Until next time,
Alice

How Can I Make a Difference?

After all of my research and listening to adoptees and first mothers, I have written an article that is trying to find a publisher.  I am advocating for opening all birth records for all adults.  I have just written a proposal for a workshop at the American Adoption Congress 32nd Annual Conference in April, 2011.  It will be months before I know if it is accepted.  In the meantime, you can provide ideas you want discussed and addressed. 

My topic is "Still a Nation of Slavery if..."  I will be addressing the fact that adoptees and first mothers must enlist the aid of outsiders in gaining open records and adoption reform.  We, the general public, have bought into the fact that adoption is the right answer for everyone involved.  Just as slaves could not have freed themselves, or women could not have won the right to vote without "outside" intervention, neither can adoptees and first mothers achieve opening sealed records and reform without "outside" help. 

Outsiders must be enlisted in this fight for social change, the fight to right wrongs of the past.  Read books, articles and check out the we sites.  I often refer to books  were written in the 90s to enforce the idea that these ideas are not new.  Newer books and articles reinforce what has been written.  Take time to educate yourself and then take action.

 The Spirit of Open Adoption
Adoption Life Cycle: The Children and Their Families Through the Years

Until next time,
Alice