Adopted children born in the heart
November is National Adoption month. This is very important to me because I was adopted when I was just more than a year old. I am now 15 and one of my life goals is to promote the adoption process and act as an advocate for awareness.
Most people are unaware of how many people's lives have been touched by adoption. Birthparents make an adoption plan for their children who they cannot support; making an extremely difficult and utterly selfless decision to put their child, their life, up for adoption. This child is then taken into a family by parents who are kind and willing to open up their homes and hearts to provide a life and opportunities for a child in need.
This is a wonderful opportunity for me to thank my birthparents, the real heroes in the process of adoption. Adoption promotes the strongest form of love imaginable; altruistic love. I cannot imagine loving someone so much that I would realize that giving them up would provide them with a better life. If my birthparents had never made that initial decision, I would never be where I am today.
Adoption creates families and fills hearts with love and belonging, as my mother likes to say about me, "I was born in her heart, rather than in her tummy." Adopted children are special and unique and they need to be celebrated.
Helen Bengtson
Crystal Lake