Saturday we attended training at Hillcrest Family Services. The morning was going over general domestic and international adoption information and then the afternoon was jam-packed full of speakers. Wow, were there ever some great stories. We met a birth mother who gave her daughter up for adoption through an open-adoption (all information regarding the birth mother, adoptee, and adoptive parents is shared). There’s an open dialogue between all parties, including possible phone calls, letters and visits. The next couple adopted two little boys domestically. The first little boy was through a closed adoption so they have very little information on the birth mother, and she has none on them. The information is very sketchy. Their second adoption was semi-open, where they have gotten together with the birth mother, and grandmother, at training sessions like ours, but last names and contact information is usually not shared. This scenario works nicely because the adoptive parents can get a more complete health history from the birth mother, if ever needed. The birth mother, and her mother, were also at the seminar and she spoke to how she came to to the decision to give her child up for adoption instead of abortion. The next couple returned home from Liberia (western Africa) seven months ago with their now 6 and 4 year olds. As soon as the children walked in the room I started to cry because I wondered if their six year old sons looked anything like our son in Ethiopia. It was difficult to keep my composure during their talk. Then the last speaker was a woman who she herself was adopted and now she and her husband have adopted two little girls. It was very emotional to hear her speak to her struggles with being adopted and whether she should try to look for her birth parents, or not.
I was thinking the day would be a lot of going over laws and paperwork and it turned out to be a very pleasant surprise.