If any of you know me on a personal basis you know that I am a talker so I love to answer questions. So should you ever have any please feel free to ask. In the meantime I loved this book so much that I wanted to post some of it's contents on here to benefit others.
This post is specifically for my friends/family who have young children. I am asking you if you would please have a discussion with your children about adoption and about us adopting. In the book it gave a real life story about a family who brought home their 3 year old daughter from China, Lily, while at a family gathering Lily's cousin was asked to go sit by her at the dinner table. "Daniel go sit by your cousin at the dinner table." Daniels response; "But she's not my real cousin! She's Chinese!"
Although his remark was innocent it was also painful for Lily's family and for Lily. Even at 3 children can still understand and Lily was effected by it. The error in this story was not so much the comment that Daniel made about Lily but rather that it happened because his parents did not prepare Daniel and explain to him what adoption is.
So what does "adopted" mean? Seeing as I'm asking you to talk to your children about this, I wanted to take an exert from the book that lays it out in a way for children to understand.
Adoption is one way of making a family. Families are made in many different ways. Most times, to have a child, a mom and a dad get together and make a baby. Another way that a child joins a family is through adoption. That means the child grew in one woman's belly but another family raise the child. The child is "adopted" by the family. A child can be adopted at any age - from a newborn baby to a teenager!
Lots of people are adopted, and every family is different. Some families have one parent, and some have two. Some children are raised by grandparents or step-parents. What makes people a family is that they love and care for each other.
-Cross-Culture Adoption by Amy Coughlin and Caryn Abramowitz.
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