I am an adoptee.

I’ve experienced a lot of the issues that are typical to adoptees, both growing up and as an adult.

I’ve been through the search for biological family. First I used traditional genealogy and public records techniques, and later I used DNA testing and genetic genealogy.

I’ve located my family of origin, and I’ve navigated the process of meeting members from both maternal and paternal sides.

I’m also different from a lot of adoptees, because I was an abandoned baby. Yes, in the “baby left on a doorstep” kind of way.

We’re a fairly small group of humans, those of us who were discarded and survived. And while abandoned babies have a lot in common with those traditionally adopted, we do tend have our own sets of concerns and complications. In the past few years I’ve explored and tried to come to terms with some of the thorny issues that abandoned babies experience.

I’m a common sense, facts-based, logical person. The search process was right up my alley. Searching for clues, compiling details, and using all resources I could find to solve the puzzle is great fun. Along the way, I gained skills that I was able to use to help others solve their puzzles and their own biological relatives. I really love the discovery aspect of these searches, and I want to share what I’ve learned with others.

I’m not an emotional person who reacts to situations based on feelings. So the search and reunion process were, emotionally, unlike anything I’d experienced before. I had to realize and accept that I had been through trauma in my earliest days. I needed to figure out how my birth/orphanage/adoption experience affected my choices and relationships throughout my life.

For years, I really thought these things didn’t matter.

I was a tiny baby, how could my first months have any profound effect on an otherwise stable upbringing?

I’ll be sharing more details of my personal journey in the category MY STORY.