Over the past few days, I have been sharing the stories of three different women who each wear more than one “adoption hat,” meaning they hold dual “roles” in the adoption triad. I’ve shared with you the story of Lisa, who is a birthmom and an adoptee and I’ve shared the story of Kacy, who is a birthmother and an adoptive mother. Today, I’ll share the third story in this short series with you.

Last but not least, I’d like to introduce you to Patty. She is both an adoptee and an adoptive mother.

Patty was adopted when she was jut thirteen days old. Her parents have a biological son who is seven years older than Patty and a daughter who was also adopted and is nineteen months older than Patty. Patty recalls knowing that she was adopted from a very early age and that her parents were always very open and honest with her about her adoption sharing the very little information they had since it was the closed adoption era.

"All I could do was imagine what my birth parents looked liked, what nationality I was, etc. My (adoptive) parents are fair skinned with blonde hair and I had very fair skin but dark hair and dark eyes. Every time I went to the doctor and I had to fill out the form about Medical History, I had to put “unknown.” I hated that. When we had to do the Family Tree activity in 5th grade, I did my (adoptive) parents family tree, of course, since I had nothing for my biological family tree."

About eight years ago, Patty decided to search for her birthmother as she wanted to know about the “beginning of her life,” know who she looked like, etc. In Michigan, where Patty was born, it wasn’t very difficult to find her birthmother and the confidential intermediary person found her in about one week. Patty has talked and emailed with her birthmother, but unfortunately do to some of the circumstances in her life, her birthmother has chosen not to have contact with Patty. However, Patty does have a biological brother that she is very close to.

“My biological brother, Kevin, and I are very close. My husband, myself, and our kids just went to see him and his family in Chicago this past weekend. We see each other every few months. He and I are as connected as my myself and my brother that I grew up with.”

Stay tuned for part 2 in which Patty will share with us why she and her husband turned to adoption.

--
Related Posts:
Wearing More than One Adoption Hat: Adoptee and Birthmom Part 1 and Part 2
Wearing More than One Adoption Hat: Birthmom and Adoptive Mom Part 1 and Part 2

For information/instructions on how to subscribe FREE to your favorite AdoptionBlogs, please visit this link.