The story of adoption can be a powerful one to share. It can help you build support, connect with others, and raise funds for adoption. You can tell it in a variety of ways, including with your online adoption profile and in person. The important thing is to be authentic and thoughtful. You should avoid making it a political rallying point or using it as a cliched plot device on a TV show.
Many adoptive parents write their adoption story as a way to heal themselves and to pass on the legacy of adoption. They can also use it to inspire others. The story can be fiction or nonfiction. However, when writing it, you need to be sensitive to the emotions of your child, their birth family, and any other people involved in the process.
Adoptive children understand and accept their adoption at different developmental stages. This is because their cognitive abilities and psychosocial structures are changing and they may be experiencing new challenges or questions (1,2). This can happen in both domestic and transracial adoptions (2,3).
Some children ask many questions about their adoption, while others never say a word about it. Whether your child wants to talk about it or not, you need to create opportunities for discussion on a regular basis. Create a life book or scrapbook to document your child’s adoption journey. This should include photos, baby shoes, locks of hair, cards and letters from their birth moms or siblings, teddy bears and other items that are meaningful to your child, plaster hand prints of their birth mom, and anything else that will be meaningful to your adopted child.