ADOPTEES/HUMAN RIGHTS/IDENTITY
A Sense of Identity and Belonging is Vital to Adoptees: The Experiences of Adoptees
Systematic and Institutional abuse exists even today. Knowledge of one’s identity is a human right, not a privilege to be denied
Background of an Adoptee
Adoptees don’t have an easy time, much of the popular ideology is that they are “Lucky” to be adopted into a family and home. As an adoptee, and going into an older age group, I reflect on my life from birth to my present situation. From the moment I was born, my life was controlled. I was born in a mother-and-baby home in Ireland, and my Birth Mum was a recent widower in the 1960s, and this led to all sorts of complications.
She married at 19 years old to a man 20 years older. The age gap itself was an issue. The man she married was physically abusive to her and in those times, domestic violence refuges didn’t exist. When her husband died in 1965, my mother struggled to survive with three children, two emigrated, even though very young, but the youngest child was only 3 years old and still living with my birth mother. The last thing my mother needed was an unwanted pregnancy. As a result, she was forced to put her 3-year-old…