Yesterday I was interviewed by Mary Beth Wells for her radio show Adoption - Journey to Motherhood. If you missed the show you can hear it at Adoption - Journey to Motherhood.
I first want to thank Mary Beth for hosting me on her show. She invests a lot of herself to provide an open forum for adoption-related issues, and I encourage you to follow her show.
Now for my two thoughts:
1. Can we all stop referring to Artyom as "the little Russian boy"? I've seen his name spelled a few different ways, and I'm not sure which is correct (including my spelling). Regardless, it's his name. He is a person and he has a name. Phoebe Prince. Kate Gosselin. Carrie Underwood. Artyom Savelyev. It's not too much to ask.
2. Let's get honest. Please. Too much adoption dialogue is careful (nice word) or dishonest (not so nice word). I hear from a lot of people who agree there is work to be done within the adoption community. I believe that work begins with each of us having the confidence to speak honestly about our experiences and LISTEN non-defensively to other people's experiences.
Honestly, I'm not every other adoptive parent you've ever met. I'm not any other adoptive parent you've ever met. Can we all reserve our conflicted feelings for the people and situations that are relevant, and hold our fire for the people who simply have a similar label? Birth parents and adoptive parents and adult adoptees insulting and ganging up on each other online... we're killing a lot of flies with sledgehammers here, folks, and it does nothing to move any of the issues forward.
As always, thanks for reading.
Sally
Click here to purchase Sally's adoption book, What I Want My Adopted Child to Know: An Adoptive Parent's Perspective.
Sally Bacchetta
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