Dealing With Adoption In Middle Age

In the past, it was assumed that a healthy, well-adjusted adopted person would have no desire to delve into his or her birth history. Those who insisted that they needed this information and access to their birth records were considered to be ungrateful at the least, and seriously disturbed at the worst. However in the early 1990's, after much research and debate, the Australian federal government, under prime minister Paul Keating, passed legislation that all previously secretly and confidentially held adoption records, from the 1940's, 1950's and 1960's should be made available to the adopted public. This effectively meant that all adoption certificates and information would be sent out to adoptees, whether they were or were not aware that they held this status.

This report looks at the effect that this legislation had on those people who were unaware that they were adopted. Many of these people are know middle aged and have only recently found out that they were adopted at an early age by their caring parents.

Often when people hear the word “adoption,” they think of an infertile, childless couple delightedly gazing into the eyes of their recently adopted newborn baby. They are thrilled to finally be parents, and are tota

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However know that I know that I am adopted, I realised that I do not know who I am or where I fit in. Shame that they were so bad they had to be given away. This is because after realising that they are adopted they search for answers to why they were sent away from their biological family.

After discovering they are adopted, many of these feelings of uncertainty are explained, however a whole new set of questions and feelings are aroused.

Adoption brings with it certain core issues. Schechter (1994) warns against making generalizations about all adoptees—some feel remarkably free of conflict—he and other therapists find that many wrestle with some of the concerns that are detailed further in this report. There is no social context in which the loss is recognised. I also believe that living your entire life with a group of people, people you always thought were your biological family, only to find out that they really are not, would be a very traumatic experience for the individual.

Throughout much of their lives many adoptees have said that they have felt a sense of ambiguous attachment, a tenuous state of attachment with their families.

Approximate Word count = 1506
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

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