My daughter Alex was adopted in an open adoption -- meaning, we had (and have) a relationship with her
birthmother. Because of this arrangement, Alex's birthmother invited us to be present at Alex's birth -- my
husband, Marcus, even cut the umbilical chord. And, thanks in part to Texas state adoption law, Alex came home
with us two days later, coming straight to our house the day she was discharged from the hospital.Because Alex was living with us by the time she was about 48 hours old, it has never dawned on me to celebrate the day she was "officially" our daughter. Her birthday is the day that we all celebrate -- it's the day we all felt like a family. For us, she became our daughter the moment we watched her take her first breath -- not when the judge's gavel legally made us a family six months later.
I know, however, that our experience is very different from many other adoptive families. For families who adopt older children, or who adopt internationally, that special day may be a long time after their children's birthday. Recently, someone who was adopted commented on Blogging Baby that celebrating the day she came to be a part of her family was as important to her as her birthday. I think she raises a valid point -- for some who were adopted, the celebration of this day is appropriate, because this was truly the most exciting day of their lives.
So, I'm curious: how do you celebrate the day your child became a part of your family?
1. I don't have any adopted children, but was adopted myself. My family never celebrated anything except my birthday. I was brought to my adoptive family at the age of 1 month, and officially adopted at 9 months.
Things have changed a lot since then, though, and adoption is treated very differently. I always knew I was adopted, and my parents were always perfectly fine with talking to me about it, and supportive in my decisions regarding finding information on my birthfamily, but it was just never a big deal.
Posted at 10:25AM on Jan 15th 2006 by Jenn