Adopted

Being adopted, whether it was when you were only a few days old or after your sixteenth birthday, makes you an adoptee for life, along with millions of other children and adults.

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Certain adopted circumstances can affect an adoptee differently. Being raised in a transracial family or in an open adoption can bring a different affection for the adopted life than being raised as an adopted foster child or older child adoptee from Korea.

Learning English as a second language or trying to salvage your ethnic identity are unique experiences for adoptees as well as first-generation immigrants. Learning about the adoption community as you age and handling that you weren't raised by your biological parents are something that just isn't translatable to other children. It can be isolating, and adoption is certainly something that can take years to accept. This is particularly prevalent in adoptees as they get older and more curious about their birth parents or pre-adoptive life. Although some of the feelings can be tough, finding support is easy. Complicated feelings are completely normal and are discussed by people in forums and support groups nearly everywhere.

Thousands of adoptees register for search-and-reunion services in their states every year as well. The No. 1 reason listed is to retrieve medical information from biological parents, which can sometimes be complicated by state record laws.