~The Biological Family~

[Dabs]

If you were to ever find out you were adopted, would you seek out your natural parents??
I guess a lot would depend on how your childhood situation was/is, and how good your adoptive parents were to you, correct??
I have read stories of people who find they are adopted, and had a great life, but still, the curiosity was there and they went looking for their real Mom or Dad, just to see and ask them "why"....why they were put up for adoption.
Some stories have decent endings, some not so well.
How do you feel??

 

[Mad Scientist]

My mother got pregnant in h.s. (1957) and gave the baby girl up for adoption. Lucky for her she was adopted by her Uncle who couldn't have children with his wife and ended up adopting another out of wedlock baby from my Aunt! (You following this so far? )

Well, ffwd to today and what has happened? My "sister" is still angry that our mom gave her up for adoption and won't talk to her. When my mother was on deaths door last October (she recovered) she never even called!

Because of that, every year on my birthday I call my mom and tell her "I have a great life, thanks for having me!". She always says "Oh thank you! You were a great kid!" even though I wasn't always.

So I guess my "adoption story" ends up both good and bad.

 

[Anachronism]

Maybe it's because of my birth defect, or because I had two wonderfully loving and devoted parents, but if I were to find out that I had been adopted, I would NOT seek out my birth parents.

I do know that a number of people suggested to my parents that they should give me up for adoption before I was born, and after they knew that I would have a significant birth defect. There were some who even suggested that it wouldn't be a terrible loss if the pregancy unexpectedly terminated (this is 1974 we're talking about). My parents would hear none of it.

 

[Montrovant]

I highly doubt I would look.

I'm not a big believer in family ties simply because of biologic relationships. I've gone years without speaking with various family members without feeling any need to. It's not a matter of dislike; I just do not really have family who are friends. We get along well enough, but we don't have a lot of similar interests and were it not for the blood ties would probably not hang out at all.

 

[waltky]

Granny says if Uncle Ferd ain't gonna marry one o' his fat girls - he oughta at least adopt one...

Picking your kin: Adult adoption creates new bond
6/8/2011 - 'No matter how old you are ... you never lose the desire for a family'

Sandra Titus mists up with a mere glance at her adopted daughter’s baby photos. After the adoption went through last November, Sandra and her husband, Ross, reveled in their new family’s first Christmas together. One of their first gifts to their daughter Jillian: a sterling silver baby cup engraved with her new initials. “To me, the cup means: ‘We’ll always make sure you’re taken care of,’ and no one can touch the fact that we’re family, that it’s unbreakable, irreversible. It’s priceless,” Jillian says.

Impressive words from the “baby” of the family. But then, Jillian Titus is 29, and an executive at Nintendo in Redmond, Wash. Her new parents — Sandra, 49, and Ross, 46 — also work at the video game company. The trio met at the office in 2008 and, initially, bonded over their Boston terriers. They later asked a judge to approve their homemade family for two reasons: love and money.

Adult adoptions appear to be rising in America, according to Chuck Johnson, president and CEO of the National Council For Adoption. The advocacy group is the only organization that tallies the number of domestic adoptions taking place in the U.S., said Johnson, though it does not specifically track adult adoptions. Statistics are difficult to compile, experts say, because many states still mandate that adoption court records are sealed and confidential.

“But anecdotally, it does seem to be occurring more frequently,” Johnson said. The most common scenario he sees: former foster children — now adults — who are being adopted by their long-time foster parents. In rare cases, adoption experts say, adults who have lost or are estranged from their biological parents befriend older people who begin to feel like mothers and fathers — and they ultimately seek to legalize that emotional attachment. “No matter how old you are,” Johnson said, “you never lose the desire for a family.”

More Picking your parents: Adult adoption creates new bond - TODAY Health - TODAY.com

 

[waltky]

Uncle Ferd gonna get all his fat g/f's on it...

Federal health department approves free birth control
1 Aug.`11 WASHINGTON – Health insurance plans must cover birth control as preventive care for women, with no copays, the Obama administration said Monday in a decision with far-reaching implications for health care as well as social mores.

The requirement is part of a broad expansion of coverage for women's preventive care under President Barack Obama's health care law. Also to be covered without copays are breast pumps for nursing mothers, an annual "well-woman" physical, screening for the virus that causes cervical cancer and for diabetes during pregnancy, counseling on domestic violence, and other services. "These historic guidelines are based on science and existing (medical) literature and will help ensure women get the preventive health benefits they need," said Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

The new requirements will take effect Jan. 1, 2013, in most cases. Tens of millions of women are expected to gain coverage initially, and that number is likely to grow with time. At first, some plans may be exempt due to a complex provision of the health care law known as the "grandfather" clause. But those even plans could face pressure from their members to include the new benefit. Sebelius acted after a near-unanimous recommendation last month from a panel of experts convened by the prestigious Institute of Medicine, which advises the government. Panel chairwoman Linda Rosenstock, dean of public health at the University of California, Los Angeles, said that prevention of unintended pregnancies is essential for the psychological, emotional and physical health of women.

As recently as the 1990s, many health insurance plans didn't even cover birth control. Protests, court cases, and new state laws led to dramatic changes. Today, almost all plans cover prescription contraceptives — with varying copays. Medicaid, the health care program for low-income people, also covers contraceptives. Indeed, a government study last summer found that birth control use is virtually universal in the United States, according to a government study issued last summer. More than 90 million prescriptions for contraceptives were dispensed in 2009, according the market analysis firm INS health. Generic versions of the pill are available for as little as $9 a month. Still, about half of all pregnancies are unplanned. Many are among women using some form of contraception, and forgetting to take the pill is a major reason.

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