Somewhere, in another state, another tree that I will never see, holds pieces of my family’s heritage. I imagine that nursery schools in Massachusetts also help young student create gifts for parents out of glitter and handprints, popsicles sticks and finger paints. I can only imagine the proud joy of my 4 year old son placing his tissue wrapped creation under the tree. It might have said “mom” on the tag, but it was never meant for me.
The Family Research Council claims to have conducted MORE research for the Birthmother, Good Mother: Her Story of Heroic Redemption, but after reading the two of them entirely, I believe that this new publication is still coming off of the original study. Both reports use the same copy for the methodology and both have the same research group, with the same number of participants in the same age ranges. I see Birthmother, Good Mother: Her Story of Heroic Redemption as a modified piece that demonstrates the actual twisting of the mind of a women experiencing an unplanned pregnancy. It’s really like a “How to Create an Kool-Aide Drinking Happy Birthmother” guide. It’s really rather frightening. I’m not sure whether women are really that easily manipulative or we are just really stupid for falling for this. Or maybe it’s just all internal and they have managed to tap into it. All I can tell you is that this feels like reading the inside of my brain during the whole adoption process.
In 1999, the Family Research Council In conjunction with the National Council for Adoption conducted research to understand the factors involved in considering adoption and how best to present adoption as a viable option for women. The Missing Piece: Adoption Counseling in Pregnancy Resource Centers by Curtis J. Young is the result of that study.
Prime Time Reality Show Looking for Adoptees and their Sisters I’m just a passing this on….I DO encourage peope to DO these sorts of things, not becasue you want to be on TV, but becasue the more TURE stories out there.. the more it helps. PLEASE remember to SUPPORT ADOPTEE RIGHTS if, you know, you happen to go for it. Mentioning on TV the reality of adoptees sealed records could…
I’m in the midst of it all: Adoption Trauma week or better known the Season of Max. So here it is; it’s November. The week from hell. Trying to remain “normal”, but feeling so very tightly strung up as if I could break or snap at any moment. Tired, impatient, restless, annoyed, teary, over excited, sad. Friday: Finish another long week, and promptly get into a stupid agreement with Rye…
How to Describe Life as BirthMother? I love it when someone else reaches inside and pulls out their heart to show us. This is a good read. Well done. This part: “…it was too hard for her to feel so much, and she has let go now. We know each other, but we pretend not to feel anything. She is there, but impenetrable.I have vowed to be different. To…
It’s no secret that I LOVE Halloween. We spend weeks decorating. Seriously, I used to control myself until October 1st, now it’s back to school and get out the Halloween boxes. I actually spin the spider webs on my porch like a spider would. It takes me hours. I don’t even think Martha Stewart does THAT! Ok, she does, but mine ARE SERIOUSLY way MORE BETTER! I have more backlights than…
#Occupy Kingston Fights Back with the BEST DENTIST EVER! I might be living on the Wall Street in Kingston, New York; but for over 30 days now my heart has been on the OTHER Wall Street in NY. It’s firmly there, occupying, protesting and standing up for being one of the 99%. People say that the protests make no sense. People say that the list of demands is confusing and…
Uptown Kingston Fire 181 Wall Street My street feels like it is in mourning. This past Monday there was a fire in a house down the street in the middle of a beautiful post Hurricane Irene afternoon. Only a half hour before the fire broke out, Rye called me at work to say that he had gotten called down the fire house. The volunteers were helping to control the flooding,…
Without the San Antonio Heat! Long at last! I know.. it took me FOREVER, but here is the next best thing to being at the Adoptee Rights Protest. It does not due it justice, so all I can say is… START PLANNING TO CHICAGO IN 2012 NOW!!!! Expect a follow up post sometime in the next 3 months! I’m sorry.. I AM LAME!! Tweet
Fourteen hours of traveling is completed. A grand total for three different buses, 2 planes, 3 flights, 6 cites (Kingston to NYC to Newark to St. Louis to Dallas to San Antonio) and about one hour sleep… Worked out exactly as I planned. In fact, it probably could not have gone better. I’m going to have to film a bunch of stuff at this hotel. OMG..I’m quite impressed. Of course…
It’s almost 2am and I have a 6am flight out of Newark. I hate early morning flights, but I search and priced tickets for 6 months and I did a round trip on Southwest for.. Under 240? So 6am it is. Once agin, the start of my Adoptee Rights Protest adventure starts with being up all night! I do miss travel ing companions though. Newark airport at 2am is a…
American Adoptees Denied Civil Rights to Birth Certificate Due to archaic laws that are a legacy of cultural shame stigmatizing infertility, sex, unwed mothers, and adoption, over 90% of all American adoptees will face a life of discrimination unless current laws are changed. Wanting to end discrimination , the Adoptee Rights Coalition; http://www.adopteerights.net ; adopted persons, their families and friends will be gathering in San Antonio, Texas, during the Annual…
I was wondering if some first mother’s would mind writing a quick email to the Oklahoma legislators below and please point out that as first mothers you were not “promised” confidentiality, but that it was enforced upon you when you relinquished your children. They are trying to include language about balancing “birthparent privacy” when Judge’s consider an adoptee’s request for their records, in their adoption bill and some of the…
Maybe it just had to be like this. No advanced planning, no time to think, no opportunity to worry, wonder of second guess; just a chance to hit the road and once again, begin the journey back to Boston, back to my son. Could it be that I was actually going to Boston for a work function and my son, relinquished, searched for, found, and now four years into reunion, was meting us to watch the kids for me? A child care crisis gives adoption reunion a new name: NORMALITY
That it was the day before Mother’s Day and officially, urg, Birthmother’s Day made it only the more sweet.