Myths About Being Adopted

I appreciated reading this blog post in the Huffington Post written by Mirah Riben, who has researched and written extensively about adoption for many years. All too often, adopted people are seen as “lucky” or “chosen.” Sometimes these comments are genuinely felt (if misguided) by the one bestowing said comment (who was probably not adopted), and sometimes they were an attempt to sugarcoat the realities of what it’s like to be adopted.

Some people would tell me how lucky my daughter Casey was to be spirited out of a Polish orphanage to live a privileged life in Marin County, CA. I’d recoil at their suggestion. But I was certainly guilty of the later, trying to make Casey feel included without realizing how excluded she may really have felt. And, by the way, I never want to generalize. There are many adoptees who do feel blessed and lucky for the lives in which they’ve found themselves. Good for them.

Here is a link to the article titled, Living With Adoption’s Dichotomies and Myths. 

Written By John Brooks

Myths About Being Adopted was originally published @ Parenting and Attachment and has been syndicated with permission.