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