Adoption Testimony

"We are the adopted parents of two adult children who were born in another country. As any

new parents, we had to quickly learn about their many needs as infants and throughout their

lives. We discovered that being parents of adopted children has a wider scope of needs that we

were not aware of. For example, their need for reassurance in light of their fears of rejecfion

and abandonment. This need is triggered in situafions that most biological families do not often

think about. Another need is not feeling that they belong. Whether it is a family event,

pictures, relafives or ancestor stories, etc. they feel that they do not really belong because they

do not look like anyone in the family. As their relafives and ancestors are either unknown or

inaccessible, they feel very disconnected.

It was through the Adopfion Circle of Hawaii that we learned about these many issues and how

to navigate this life long journey. As a fellow adopfive parent once said, 'An adoptee can never

be un-adopted.'"