Resources for being adopted

Here you will find articles made up of personal stories, practical advice and reviews of published material. I created this resource in the hope it would help adopted people in search of answers and a feeling of belonging. Please get in touch if you are adopted and need any further support.

Rejection #2 (1990)
Personal Stories Nick Mabey Personal Stories Nick Mabey

Rejection #2 (1990)

Playing the detective satisfies on so many levels. It’s a puzzle to solve, it’s a secret to bear, it’s an adventure to have, it’s a mother to find. I‘m not going to bother looking for my dad. I’ve decided he is a peripheral figure, a sperm donor if you like. It’s my biological mother I’m hunting and nothing is going to stop me! Except of course, me, I need to play it cool, not appear to needy. “I’m doing this for her” I say it so many times I have convinced myself. So I start, then stop, then re-start, then pause; pendulating between search and avoid, like a child moving their hand towards a fire.

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Journey Of The Adopted Self
Published Material Nick Mabey Published Material Nick Mabey

Journey Of The Adopted Self

This book, written by Betty Jean Lifton in 1994, focuses on three stages of the journey that adopted people take in “a quest for wholeness” – the subtitle of the book. It’s an unapologetically American study of the authors own experience of being adopted, along with a large amount of research. Despite its age and non-UK feel I would say it is well worth a read, mostly because what Lifton describes really resonated personally with my own journey.

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