A message to all of you. Thank you for reading and responding. Thank you to all of you who have reached out and supported me this month. It means a lot. It makes the process far less isolating this time around and that means the world to me.
I am one part of this conversation. I in fact have the privilege of getting to be one of the loudest voices- that of the adoptive parent. Specifically, the adoptive mother. Our story, our side is often put on a pedestal. Her struggles with infertility, her relationship with God, her selflessness is often part of the narrative of an adoptive mom. As I share, I ask you to consider the other adoptive mother perspectives, whether it’s the mother who choose adoption as her first way to have a child, or the mother who doesn’t believe Jesus is part of adoption. The mothers who walk the path to adoption for a gazillion other reasons that have nothing to do with infertility or Jesus.
There must be room in the conversation for birth mothers, birth fathers, birth families, birth siblings- their stories. whether a birth mom lovingly placed, whether they were not given any other options, whether they regret their choices- I hope it can all one day be heard. Room for adoptee’s stories as well- what they struggle with, what they celebrate, how their birth story sits with them. I have tried to be thoughtful about what I share and be mindful of all of the voices in adoption- but at the end of that day I know that my voice holds more power than most voices that make up adoption. That’s all. That’s my message to you this evening.