I’m so glad the truth challenge is over. It ended up being a lot harder than I thought it would be. I started it while I was working on some other posts and figured I’d give myself some time to reflect on all of the things I’ve been learning and all the massive changes in my reunion. I took my time, reflected, and enjoyed all the wonderful comments that people have posted. I am still amazed that other people actually read this blog. I started it thinking that I would just put my voice out there and if nobody wanted to hear it, then that was ok with me. I did this for me and I am amazed every day with how many page views I get (unless I just have two people who constantly check my blog every five minutes).
I started talking to some non-adoptees about some of the issues surrounding adoption and I was surprised initially about how little people know about some of the basic issues adoptees face. I am a big believer that education is key to understanding the world so I have decided to dedicate the next few weeks to blogging about some of the basic issues that I have learned about regarding adoption. If you already know this stuff, then sorry for the boring posts but please help me out in the comments!
While adoptees only make up about 2% of the US population, it has been estimated that approximately 60% of Americans are touched in some way by adoption. These people are either members of a first family, members of a second/third/fourth (etc) family, or people who are close to adoptees. Adoption touches millions of lives. It's important and it matters. For such a big issue, shouldn't people want to be educated?
I have come to believe that if people really knew what went on in adoptions, they would understand why it’s so important to have open records. Most people probably don’t even have a clue as to what open records are. I think that until more non-adoptees learn just how hard it is to learn your identity as an adoptee and why it’s so important, we will never succeed in getting what we want here in the US. That’s just my theory but this is me doing something about it.
Just to clarify, state laws vary. My birth state is Massachusetts so I’m going to focus on Massachusetts laws. Some states are similar; others are very different so please make sure you check the laws in your own state for a full understanding.
I started talking to some non-adoptees about some of the issues surrounding adoption and I was surprised initially about how little people know about some of the basic issues adoptees face. I am a big believer that education is key to understanding the world so I have decided to dedicate the next few weeks to blogging about some of the basic issues that I have learned about regarding adoption. If you already know this stuff, then sorry for the boring posts but please help me out in the comments!
While adoptees only make up about 2% of the US population, it has been estimated that approximately 60% of Americans are touched in some way by adoption. These people are either members of a first family, members of a second/third/fourth (etc) family, or people who are close to adoptees. Adoption touches millions of lives. It's important and it matters. For such a big issue, shouldn't people want to be educated?
I have come to believe that if people really knew what went on in adoptions, they would understand why it’s so important to have open records. Most people probably don’t even have a clue as to what open records are. I think that until more non-adoptees learn just how hard it is to learn your identity as an adoptee and why it’s so important, we will never succeed in getting what we want here in the US. That’s just my theory but this is me doing something about it.
Just to clarify, state laws vary. My birth state is Massachusetts so I’m going to focus on Massachusetts laws. Some states are similar; others are very different so please make sure you check the laws in your own state for a full understanding.
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