My fare readers may find it interesting to know that I was adopted. You many have already seen a post featuring my newly found half-bro Captain R, and eventually, there will be more about the reunion(s) with my birth mother and rest of the clan.
I'm a very very lucky boy. Statistically speaking, not many adoptees ever are reunited with their birth parents, yet 95% of them want to be found. It's nearly 100% for birth mothers wanting to be reunited with their child.
So, you may ask, if both sides want so much to be reunited, why don't adoptees search and/or why aren't parents found? The red tape is certainly a hurdle, but even in the cases where it's not, it's just enough to leave the average adoptee holding their curiosity in the wind. It was a $350 investment for myself, and even with payment there's no guarantee of a pot of anything at the end of the rainbow.
In my case, and I'm sure with others, I also needed my parents to say "you should do this" or something to that effect. I grew up listening to my sister (who was also adopted) using the search as a threat, "well, I'm going to find my birth parents and live with them." When she finally did do a search, however, it was at both my parents and her doctor's behest. The need for family medical history made any minor hurdle irrelevant in the search process. So my sister at that time did do her search, and found her parents relatively easily and quickly, her birth father actually living within 5 miles of her.
She went through a non-profit called Washington Adoption Reunion Movement (W.A.R.M.), and I followed suit after my mother urged me (a blessing.) Having seen the process already through, it was a lot easier for me to initiate. Most adoptees, however, don't have that leg up and thus are left instead with their curiousity.
Some helpful links on the subject:
- Adopting.org
- Bastard Nation - An adoption rights advocacy group founded in Seattle and now based in Houston, Texas
- American Adoption Congress - National non-profit organization bringing together local and regional search, support and advocacy groups
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