Adoption And Attitude Quotes

“There comes a point in time when we must acknowledge that we are more than our nationality, and we are bigger than our ethnicity. There comes a time when we have an aha moment. What is that aha moment? It's sort of like a revelation. A revelation is when we put all the pieces together to see the bigger picture. When we see the bigger picture, we can see ourselves through the realm of reality and truth. The truth is we belong to a blood family that is connected to a tribal community, and this community is big and bright and bold with life, and we should be proud of the ties to blood that each of us has. We should not play small and reduce our human nature—for we are all connected. We belong to something bigger and more expansive. We belong to life itself. Always remember that you are more than an American (as wonderfully dramatic as that can be). Together, we make up the collective of great. ...And this is good.”
― Janine Myung Ja, Adoption Stories

“What matters most is not 'what' you are, but 'who' you are.”
― DaShanne Stokes

“People think that LGBTs adopting children will hurt them, but it's not being in loving homes that hurts children most.”
― DaShanne Stokes

“Adoption is a beautiful, burdensome blessing.”
― Jody Cantrell Dyer, The Eye of Adoption: The True Story of My Turbulent Wait for a Baby

“Adoption is a lifelong journey. It means different things to me at different times. Sometimes it is just a part of who I am. Other times it is something I am actively going through.”
― Kelly DiBenedetto, Adoption Is a Lifelong Journey

“Adoption isn't just a childhood experience, it's a life-long experience.”
― DaShanne Stokes

“Adoptees deserve open records because deception and partial truths do not set us free.”
― DaShanne Stokes

“Adoptee rights are everyone's rights, and they deserve to be protected.”
― DaShanne Stokes

“Being adopted felt like reading a book that had the first chapter ripped out. You might be enjoying the plot and the characters, but you'd probably also like to read that first line, too. However, when you took the book back to the store to say that the first chapter was missing, they told you they couldn't sell you a replacement copy that was intact. What if you read that first chapter and realized you hated the book, and posted a nasty review on Amazon? What if you hurt the author's feelings? Better just to stick with your partial copy and enjoy the rest of the story.”
― Jodi Picoult, Handle with Care

“Sic transit gloria mundi.”
― Victor O'Connell, Eaglechild

“If you invest your time, talent, and resources, orphans around the world can have much happier and healthier lives.”
― Beau Sides, Unseen Tears: The Challenges of Orphans and Orphanages in China

“When I reached the age of five, I was told I was adopted as a baby, at that time I was gun and holster mad, a bit of a lone ranger, as was the rage in those days. My parents, Tom and Brenda, told me they went to see all these special kids and they picked me out from them. Waiting for my reaction, I looked up at my parents and chimed, ‘Did I have my guns on?”
― Stephen Richards, Born to Fight: The True Story of Richy Crazy Horse Horsley

“If the system were designed to protect adoptees, why do so many have to fight for their rights?”
― DaShanne Stokes

“It's illegal to deny people their records due to race or gender. Adoptees deserve the same rights and protections.”
― DaShanne Stokes

“Blood can help make family, but family often transcends blood.”
― DaShanne Stokes

“Discovering that I was adopted redefined my entire world, but it taught me that who you are doesn't change.”
― DaShanne Stokes

“Being denied their original birth certificates isn't just a problem for adoptees. It's a social problem, requiring social change.”
― DaShanne Stokes

“If you are financially affluent, think of adopting a kid and raise him or her right next to your biological offspring. And let your love become the proof of your parenthood, instead of your DNA.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Human Making is Our Mission: A Treatise on Parenting

“We were not criminals. We're mothers. The difference was I was not an authenticated mother. I was an illegal mother. I was a denied mother. And I had to come home and live my life after being robbed of my child. It's as if I was an unwilling accomplice to the kidnapping of my own child. So you have to live with the trauma of losing your child and then you have to live with the trauma of knowing you didn't stop it. How do you do that?”
― Ann Fessler, The Girls Who Went Away: The Hidden History of Women Who Surrendered Children for Adoption in the Decades Before Roe v. Wade