I am currently writing a book documenting the experience of being adopted. It charts the journey from child to adult and the search for all the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle, taking the reader through the whole process; from unearthing the truth of who you really are, holistically dealing with the associated traumas and finally coming to terms with where we belong, who are real family is and the way in which we cannot ultimately escape our ancestral lineage and blood line … and family.

ONE VOICE

The Family Secret Who Should Never Have Come Out

Aged 6

This is the first time it registers fully.  I’ve heard my “parents” tell me this story all my life, about how I am special, how they chose me but it never really went in. It always sounded like a nice story I was being told but really I just wanted to get on playing … here I am though doing what all small children do, rummaging through cupboards and drawers inquisitively and suddenly there it is in my hand.  I don’t fully appreciate immediately the chain of events this will eventually trigger in my life but for now all I know is I’m confused. 

In my hand is the family tree – I’ve seen this sort of thing at school.  But this one is different.  It’s quite an old document and I’m the last entry on it.  I read my name and something in the back of my mind stirs. 

Where everyone else just has their name and date of birth, mine is different to them all – along with my brother John who’s name is just above mine.   We stand out from the rest – and one word stands us  apart (and unites us) as it screams itself off the page and into my psyche. 

That word is “Adopted”… “