Every adopted parent wonders if the time will come when your adopted child will want to search and/or find his/her birth mother and father. My time has finally come.
My son announced in December that he and his wife are expecting. Baby check ups have led to my son wondering more about his hereditary health issues. A phone conversation with him this month, led to a discussion about his birth mother.
I have known a few things about her. She was 14 years old at the time, a big factor in her decision. Her parents had just had twins, so they felt they couldn’t afford another child at the time. When my son would occasionally ask about his birth mother when growing up, I tried to answer as honestly and positively as I could.
In this conversation, I told him that I had some pictures of her and other children. Through the adoption agency, she sent a letter and pictures. He has two sisters and a fourth child was on its way in 1994. He was 10 years old and I thought too young to be given these pictures. He is now 24 and finding out for the first time that I’ve had this info.
He indicated that he would like to pursue locating her. I took a package of adoption records and info to the post office today, the pictures too. I feel most sad that I am not able to be with him and share in those moments when he views those pictures. He lives too far away and I will not see him till late August. He thought he would have more time now to start the process before the baby arrives. And so it goes.
This is just another step in the journey. I have mixed emotions of course, and will write more about that in another post.
© 2008 drpers
