Being Adopted

Being Adopted is a safe and open place where adopted people can feel at home searching for answers without feeling judged. Where you can find practical advice and feel part of a community of shared stories. A place where you belong that can offer help and support – allowing you to accept and move on.

Find out more

 
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I created Being Adopted because, at various points in my life, when feeling lost, isolated, angry or just bewildered, I looked for help and mostly couldn’t find it. So I made a promise to create a place of belonging and help for others who’ve walked in similar shoes; this is the outcome of that promise. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you are adopted and have other ideas that would help a place like this.

 

I have created three areas in the Being Adopted place, and provided resources for each:

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Personal Stories

If you are feeling alone or different it can often help to read the stories of other people with similar experiences. Being adopted is often deliberately not talked about and so story-telling can offer a vivid way to share our experiences. Stories don’t have to be long, or particularly well-written, their power is in their sharing.

See resources

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Help and Advice

People who have been adopted are often in need of help; I certainly was. It’s not always easy, either to know who to ask or even to find the courage to try. Advice might be basic and practical, for instance in discovering your past. Or you might need help of a more psychological nature, in terms of coming to terms with your situation. My aim here is create a community that can help each other to help itself. And also to offer whatever help and advice I can.

Please contact me if you have any questions you are looking for answers to.

See resources

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Published Material

My intention in to provide reviews and tips on all the material I can find on being adopted. This might be books, websites, podcasts, interviews, films. Anything really that speaks to the experience of being adopted.

If you know of anything you would like me to review; or if there is anything you want to review yourself, please let me know.

See resources

 Resources

Being Adopted Resources
Rejection #4 (2020)
Rejection #4 (2020)

Deep down I know this will be my last attempt. I know because time moves mercilessly on -my birth mother is turning 80 next month. I know because I am ready to move forward, I can feel it in my bones. I’ve done a lot of healing in the last four years and it’s time. Life is short and precious, this is not how I want to spend my remaining time. I know because I’m facing open heart surgery and am ‘getting my affairs in order’ just in case.

Waking Up To Being Adopted
Waking Up To Being Adopted

I’ve had an article published in the Hoffman Institute UK monthly magazine, and so thought I would share it here.

Grasping For Connection (2011)
Grasping For Connection (2011)

I’m sitting at my computer when the world grinds to a temporary halt. I stare at the screen trying to make sense of it with a scrambled brain and pounding heart. Linked In, of all things, has been the cause of this suspension of reality. It seems like hours but is probably less than a minute. The rest of the screen reduces to pixels as the message throbs at me. My mouth has turned dry and everywhere else is sweating. I’ve had contact from someone who is probably my half-sister.