HV095- Inside the Adoption Circle

This is a wonderful set of stories. I was moved by the accounts by both adoptees and parents. Not many stories remind us to powerfully of both tragedy and hopefulness as these.
Thank you to the producers and those who told your stories!

Thank you for this wonderful program. I am an adopted child, and so many of the stories resonated with me, and put into words things I have been feeling my whole life. While the world recognizes and lauds both the parents who relinquish and the ones who adopt as heroes, the child who makes it all possible is marginalized. The adopted child is a hero too. We are resilient and strong, and deserve to know all the parts of our “story”.

I turned on the radio today and heard your program playing. It is amazingly coincidental as I have just reuinted with my birth daughter in the last 3 weeks. I am a birth mother and she is 24. Her adoption was completely clsoed and so it is wonderful to have found each other now. Our reunion is brand new and we are feeling our way along. It was so great to hear from others who have and are going through these same set of emotions

I’d love to be able to download the program so she can hear it too. Not sure how to do that?

I was very moved by this program. As an adoptee who has found their Birthfamily with mixed results, it was refreshing to hear from all side of the issue. It made me think harder about how difficult this must have been for my Birthmother. It also made me think about my oldest brother who is also adopted and has chosen not to find his Birthfamily.

I love the story about the children adopted in China, because I always wondered it would be like. These kids are so aware that they are being taken care of by someone that are not their parents.

I also enjoyed this program very much. I was born in one state and then adopted into a neighboring state. Since it was a closed adoption during the 1960s, very little information has been made available to me, and I had a difficult time obtaining proof of my birthplace in order to get a passport. A few years ago when Joni Mitchell was looking for her adopted daughter, I harbored a glint of hope that I was that daughter (even though I can’t carry a tune in a bucket LOL). Recently, my state decided to release records for previously closed adoptions. At first my heart jumped again, but then I realized it does not apply to me since I was not born in this state. I wonder if I will ever find my blood relations. I wonder if they want to found. I wonder if they will find me. I wonder if they are looking.

Thank you for highlighting some of the issues surrounding adoption. There are an estimated 7 million adopted people in the U.S. There is hardly anyone who is not affected in some degree.
I am a mother of loss to adoption (1964) who has been reunited for 25 years and now devote all my time to search angeling, genealogy and adoptee rights advocacy to restore access to adult adopted persons to their original birth certificates in the 43 states which impose restrictions from partial to complete denial. I believe that everyone has the right to know his or her original identity, family history, heritage, and the identity of everyone to whom he or she is blood related, and that the denial of such information to only adopted persons is absurd and discriminatory. I will help anyone who asks, never a fee.

Many mothers from the BSE remain silent out of shame. An examination of the shady practices of that time indicates the practices used to keep us shamed and silent are still effective today. If you are a mother of loss
reading this, please speak out. Your son or daughter may be searching for you and needs you at this moment. Even well meaning adoptive parents cannot replace the natural bond between mother and child.

Hi, There are many search and support groups out in the yahoo groups to help.

Some states have a Mutual consent registry. There are two major independant Mutual Consent registrys also to sign up on.

Come to a group called theregistry at yahoo. We have volunteers to help.

Sincerely,
Joan

I’m 69 and just found the obit of my birth mother BUT found I have 3 brothers and a sister. I have met 1 brother and my sister, an aunt and 4 cousins. 2 Brothers have not felt a need to be in touch with me. I had a great childhood so was not in need to find ‘birth’ family. I’m glad I waited until I did to google. My birht mother wen to her grave keepping her secret and now I have contact with some of the birth family. I look at this as a win/win for Mom and me.

This was a very moving podcast and I always marvel at the miracle of adoption. But I was saddened that not a single story featured a gay family. In my own life, the most moving adoption stories I know were from my dear friends who are gay and adoptive parents. Invisibility keeps marginalized folks on the outs. Please consider widening your story collections to make more folks visible.

[…] NPR program Hearing Voices aired a very moving story yesterday titled Inside the Adoption Circle, a first-person account from adoptees, birth parents, and adoptive families. Voices from all […]