Empower Your Child to be Proud of Being Adopted
SHARED by: Becky Fawcett, Co-Founder of Helpusadopt.org
When I became a mother through adoption, I promised myself that my children would be raised knowing that they were adopted. It would always be discussed in an open, honest and loving manner inside and outside of our home. Because it’s not a secret. It’s how our family was built.
But how do you really do this?
In our home, adoption is talked about in a loving and kind way. The word “adoption” is used frequently and is never whispered.
As parents, we are very proud of how we’ve built our family. We include our children in our conversations. We often talk about their stories and openly discuss how they came into this world and into our lives. We talk about how they make us so happy and how their stories make them unique in their own special way. There is never a hint of ambiguity.
They are proud of how they came into this world because that’s how it is in our house. This is what our children know. The process has happened very organically because the conversations are never staged or forced. They are frequent and spur of the moment.
And as my children have grown older (Jake is 7, Brooke is 3) I have encouraged them to have their own voices about adoption. Finding your voice and being knowledgeable about a subject matter (any subject matter), especially when it is one you care about, is empowering—no matter what your age.
Becky Fawcett is a NYC publicist and co-founder and executive director of Helpusadopt.org a national 501c3 grant program that helps couples and individuals with the costs of their adoptions. She also writes a blog called An Infertile Blonde and you can follow her on Facebook and Twitter. She lives in NYC with her two children, her husband and her somewhat disrespectful rescue dog Bitsy who likes to sleep on the dining room table when no one’s looking.