The process of adoption is more open today than it was a generation ago. Laws have changed to give adoptees access to their birth records, international adoption is more common, and families tend to share an adoption as good news instead of something to keep hidden. Yet as our society becomes more comfortable with adoption, the experience of being adopted hasn’t changed significantly. We talk about adoption from the perspective of the adoptee and how we can better support adoptees and their families.
Four guests join our host Mindy Todd in the Point studio for this program. Margaret Hendrick was adopted when she was six months old and has written a memoir about her experiences titled Against the Tides. Sue Landers is a licensed social worker at Child and Family Services in Hyannis and Harwichport. She is also an adoptive parent. Brenda Cotter is a lawyer, adoptive parent of two grown children from China, and an adoptee. Monika Bang-Campbell is a licensed social worker with a focus in trauma recovery who has worked with adoptees and is an adoptee herself.
Here's a link for more information about Massachusetts Adoption Laws, Resources. And this link for the website for Access Massachusetts, a grassroots effort dedicated to passing legislation that will restore the human right for all adult adopted persons to have access to their original birth certificates.
