Because her mother suffered from a raging drug addiction and regularly put my niece and her little sister in danger. !” Not proper grammar, to be sure, but this was the response I sent Melissa when I got the news. I smiled all the way down to my toes as I watched this video. I too was adopted and over the years have run into people who feel it is their duty to remind me I am not the natural child of my adoptive parents. While I appreciate the sentiment, it can be hard to then explain why it doesn’t always feel so awesome. They explained hers was an open adoption and they knew her birth mom. In order to be adopted, they had to be rejected by their birth parents. It was as close to having a religious experience as I have had in a decade – so much so, that my total outlook […] Years ago, I worked with a 12-year-old girl who was adopted at birth. Rejection is part of the initial loss the adoptee experiences. They told me they answered Julia's questions related to adoption when asked but added they rarely brought the subject up. Personally I would never adopt a child even if the adoption would be right away after the birth, I don’t think I would feel him or her as mine, sure I would love the baby but there is just a connection to bio children that I would probably never feel with the adopted one, that is just the way I feel, adoption … I feel so sad for Adoptees, learning how they feel, yet it is real to each and everyone of you and as a mum and natural mum I admire your courage and your strength to get this information out there, concerning such a personal and sensitive subject to you. Why? Not adopted from the view of an adoptive parent, like “I am loved and wanted and somebody picked me and everything’s gonna be okay and my life is a gift…” “I is adopted!! I am the mother of an adopted child - she is my niece. In honor of National Adoption Day, BuzzFeed presents this really wonderful video of adult adoptees talking about their experience with adoption! She came to live with me when she was 4 years old. In the book Being adopted: The lifelong search for self, published in 1992, researchers David M Brodzinsky, Marshall D Schechter, and Robin Marantz Henig say that children, if adopted within six months of their birth, would grow similar to a natural child. There are some days that I feel particularly adopted. I feel like it has become my mission to help people realize that there is no one adoptee experience. It brought a tear to my eye. Understand that adoption is often still stigmatized. Today, I feel adopted. My adoptive parents were considerable older than most of the other parents who had children my age and apparently were not fully aware of what it would take to raise a very active boy. Adopted children develop a feeling of being abandoned by their mother. Sorry to ruin your fantasies, but it’s the truth. Julia's parents described her as "angry, oppositional, and living in her own world." Marc and Robb are both passionate about the joy that adoption, and specifically adoption of an older child, has brought to their lives. The feeling I had was one of pure elation. Listen, adoption is usually not that pleasant of an experience for anyone involved, except maybe the adopted parents. Watching it will make your day. As such, adopted children typically feel succeeding losses much more deeply than their non-adopted counterparts. While the number of “open” adoptions (adoptions with some level of contact between the biological and adoptive families) has risen dramatically over the past few years, many people still feel uncomfortable talking about adoption with their children or with other adults. 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