I am very honoured to be here amongst women adoptee bloggers I respect and have learnt so much from.
I love the way ideas bounce around in blogland; a post is written, someone picks up a thread of an idea and runs with it, amplifying and extending it a way that ever expands our understanding of this complex world of adoption we live in.We can see those threads being woven into a tapestry of understanding, a new body of knowledge about adoption and what it means to adoptees.
Here in Australia, we are lucky enough to have had our rights for decades, those most of you in America are still fighting for and will be for some difficult times to come.That freedom, while appreciated and taken up by many, brings a new set of difficulties.
Reunion in itself is complex and often approached without preparation, with many assumptions, expectations and dreams.The major difficulty for many, is that there can be no guarantees about outcomes. Adoptees often need assurances of security, stability and to know where they stand and those things are hard to come by. Nevertheless, the knowledge we gain from it, whatever the result, is something that gives us certainty and answers, even if we don't like them much.
As you know, we are at the beginning of what promises to be a fairly long Inquiry into Forced Adoption up to the 1970's. Already there have been great gains for adoptees, who are beginning to find each other and to talk together and share their experiences. Being able to speak freely has been of great benefit and there is a new understanding of what we all went through, those experiences being very diverse and in differrent decades.Some of us, like you in America, will never know our true identity, because unofficial placements were arranged and there is no information to be had. Others have found their records were burned or unobtainable.It is the same old story, the one we are all familiar with, of abuse of the rights of babies and children and a disregard for their identity and future.
Somehow, we hope to turn all this mess into something positive for adoptees, a better understanding, a Government Apology and a healthier adoptee support system for those who need it. It is a time of hard work but also of hope, just like the adopted life itself really!
