Stories

Personal experiences shared by adoptees from around the world through the I’m Adopted community.

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50 Stories Shared

Adopted from Ohio, United States • Living in West Virginia

Kelli Cottrill's Story

I was adopted when I was 5 months old. My adoptive parents had 5 biological children and then adopted 17 more children. They were both school teachers, and I remember my dad coming home from teaching and going to his second job working at a department store. We were a solid unit, and I don’t remember ever having to want for anything.

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Adopted from Lorain, Ohio, USA • Living in Willard, Ohio

Jan Ross's Story

We were both placed in foster care, parental rights were severed, and we were up for adoption. My adoptive parents wanted me, but they didn't want both of us, so we were adopted by separate families and grew up about 20 miles apart.

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Adopted from Sofia, Bulgaria • Living in United States

Mirella Stoyanova's Story

Like many here, I never stopped searching for answers about my past. I routinely pored over the 30 or so pictures I had from my life before America and my adoption documents, which were kept in a red, three-ringed binder in the bottom right-hand corner of our family's den.

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Adopted from Ethiopia • Living in United States

Isaac Melber's Story

My earliest memories are marked by both love and loss. When I was very young, both of my birth parents passed away. Their deaths changed the course of my life and eventually led me into an orphanage, where I waited alongside other children for a future I could not yet understand.

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Adopted from Atlanta, GA USA • Living in Jacksonville, FL USA

Mark's Story

Up until that moment, I had always felt like I fit in. I had an older brother who was the biological child of my adoptive parents, and physically, I blended right in.

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Adopted from Sioux City, Iowa, USA • Living in Des Moines, Iowa

Mike Kueny's Story

In the summer of 1965, I was adopted by two wonderful people. They had already adopted two others, making them my siblings, and then another one came along, so they had a total of four adopted children. I’ve lived my life throughout the last 60 years knowing that I was adopted and always wondering.

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Adopted from and living in Sydney, Australia

Cheryl's Story

My mum always told me how special adopted children were, and by chance I married a man who had an adopted sister, and my mum always spoke about how lucky she was.

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Adopted from Detroit, Michigan, USA • Living in Michigan

Lori's Story

Years later, in my early 20s, I became curious about my biological family. I had only been told by my adoptive parents that my birth mother was a young unmarried woman who met an Irishman in Canada. That is all they were told back in the late 50s.

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Adopted from and living in Buffalo, New York

Brittany Hoffman's Story

Every day, she carried that weight for both of us, standing between me and the things that could have broken me, and definitely broke her, but she didn’t let me see the weak side of her. Her strength became my anchor.

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Adopted from Thailand • Living in New York

Lisa Kininger's Story

I am adopted, and I am still searching. I don’t know my real birthday. Every year I celebrate anyway, but quietly I know the date isn’t my true beginning.

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Adopted from and living in Central Illinois, USA

Ann's Story

My adoptive family, or as I call them, my family, consists of three very protective older brothers (my mother said she wanted a daughter).

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Adopted from Serpukhov, Russia • Living in Saugatuck, Michigan, USA

Alina Martinson's Story

I am an international adoptee from Russia, and I am currently searching for my biological roots and my birth mother.

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Adopted from South Korea • Living in California & Michigan, USA

Jessie Elliott's Story

I have since gone to Korea, found my mother and grandma in my mid-20s, and my dad the year I turned 50.

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Adopted from Pasadena, California, United States • Living in Bay Area, California

Dominique's Story

I always had a sense of knowing that I was adopted. I don’t remember being told, but whenever people asked me when I knew, I always say 7 years old.

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Adopted from Austin, Texas, United States • Living in Meriden, CT

Amelia Young's Story

Around the same time that I found her, the Internet was really taking off, and my birth father had once sent me a jacket from the radio station he worked at with his call name on it.

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Adopted from Detroit, Michigan, United States • Living in Midland, Michigan

Amy's Story

I was born at Crittenton Hospital in Detroit, Michigan, USA, the largest Florence Crittenton hospital in the USA at the time.

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Adopted from Topeka, Kansas, United States • Living in Eau Claire, WI

Michael's Story

It took me until I was in my mid-forties to start the journey to learning more about what my birth history was and who my birth parents were.

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Adopted from Victoria, BC, Canada

Darla's Story

Years later, in my 40s, I connected via the Adoption Reunion Registry with my very first biological relative, a cousin.

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Adopted from Russia • Living in Australia

Yulia's Story

My early experiences, being orphaned, adopted across countries, building a new identity, and navigating loss, have all shaped the person I have become.

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Adopted from United Kingdom • Living in Spain

Virginia Downes's Story

Ours was a happy story, and not for one moment did I ever feel that they were not my parents.

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Adopted from and living in United Kingdom

Don Parker's Story

From as far back as I can remember, I carried questions that nobody could answer. Who am I really? Where do I come from? Why wasn't I enough to keep?

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Adopted from United States • Living in California

Tabita Christensen (Cami Denne)'s Story

Many adoptees endure complex trauma (secondary trauma). Being trauma informed is vital.

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Adopted from Vladivostok, Russia • Living in United States

Eliana Laurance's Story

I’m also an identical twin—my sister’s name is Tatiana. We were born in Vladivostok, Russia, and adopted into the United States in 1996.

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Adopted from New York, United States

Al Isaacs's Story

In a matter of seconds, everything I thought I knew about my identity was thrown into question.

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Adopted from Upstate New York, United States • Living in Binghamton, New York, United States

Michelle Stupski's Story

For many years, I believed adoption was simply part of my story, not something that deeply affected me.

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Adopted from Los Angeles, CA, USA • Living in Minneapolis, MN

Barbara Medina's Story

I was successful, and my smile told everyone I was doing great.

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Adopted from Sacramento, California, USA • Living in Amarillo, Texas

Emily (Joey) Grimes's Story

I was adopted at the age of 10 months (but the adoption wasn’t finalized until I was 2 1/2).

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Adopted from Russia • Living in Missouri, USA

Ekaterina's Story

I was adopted from Russia just two days before my sixteenth birthday. I still speak Russian and try my best to hold on to that part of myself.

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Adopted from Ontario, Canada • Living in British Columbia

Skye's Story

I have been blessed to have been able to develop a relationship with both of my biological parents and some of the extended family members.

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Adopted from New Westminster, Canada • Living in Toronto, Canada

Lauren Robilliard's Story

I was adopted in 1998 exactly a month after I was born. I grew up in a loving home on Vancouver Island with a younger brother who was also adopted.

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Adopted from and living in Northland, New Zealand

Toni's Story

My adoptive mum dreamt of having a baby and building a half-round barn next to the beach (and that’s what she did).

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Adopted from Portugal • Living in England

Beatriz's Story

I was born in Portugal in 1994 into a life that was unstable from the very beginning. y mother was 32 when she had me, but she was rarely present throughout my childhood.

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Adopted from Pskov, Russia • Living in Michigan, USA

Elena Wojcik's Story

My story is short with words, but weighs heavy daily. 35 years of unanswered questions. I've came to my own conclusion, made up my own scenarios.

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Adopted from Albania • Living in Minnesota, USA

Denis's Story

I was born in Albania and spent the first 5 years of my life in an orphanage. In 1999, I was adopted and moved to Minnesota, where I’ve lived ever since.

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Adopted from and living in The United States

Lydia Admire's Story

“I’m adopted” is definitely the phrase I’ve been flaunting all my life.

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Adopted from UK • Living in England

Barbara Attwood's Story

I was adopted in 1948 during the baby boom after the Second World War, when adopters could walk around orphanages and pick whichever child they wanted.

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Adopted from and living in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA

Cara's Story

At the time of my birth, Leslie named me. After I was adopted, I was given a new name.

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Adopted from Louisiana, USA • Living in Canada

Georgia's Story

Since the age of 12 or 13, I have struggled immensely with being adopted. I always struggled, and still do, with being unable to know my birth family and have active relationships with them.

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Adopted from and living in Maine, USA

Pamela's Story

At 7 months, my birth mother decided to place me for adoption as she knew I needed the stability she could not provide. I always knew I was adopted and was raised in a very loving, secure family.

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Adopted from Middle River, Maryland, USA • Living in Edgewood, Maryland

Victoria Francois's Story

My biological mother gave birth to me at a very young age. She decided it was best that we went with a family who could give us everything we needed.

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Adopted from Irkutsk, Russia • Living in Louisiana, USA

Jessica Tackett's Story

I’ve loved art for as long as I can remember, and my parents always nurtured that passion.

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Adopted from Baltimore, Maryland, USA • Living in Baltimore, County

Hope Holman's Story

I knew I was adopted since the age of 12. I was being nosey in my adopted parents’ file cabinet and found 2 birth certificates with my name on it.

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Adopted from Atlanta Georgia, USA • Living in Camargo, IL

Angela Earl's Story

My name is Angela. Growing up, I always knew I was adopted. When I got older, I decided to try to find my birth mother through the adoption registry.

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Adopted from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada • Living in Manitoba

Benson Friesen's Story

I was adopted at age 7 by a Mennonite pacifist family in Winnipeg, MB, Canada.

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Adopted from Liverpool, UK • Living in Kent

Siân Thomas's Story

I was born in Liverpool in February 1970. My birth mother was forced to give me up for adoption at one week old.

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Adopted from Minneapolis, MN, USA • Living in Flagstaff, AZ

Sarah's Story

I was born in Minneapolis, MN in 1962 to an 18-year-old girl. She met a man who was 32, married with a wife and a 5-month-old baby at home.

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Adopted from Brantford, Ontario, Canada • Living in Cozumel Me

Margaret Chute's Story

I found my birth family when I was 49. What a richness. I had 7 natural siblings. After my adoption, my mother married someone we all thought was my birth father.

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Adopted from Denison, Texas, USA • Living in Lutz, Florida

Brooke Boswell's Story

I was adopted at two days old. My parents (mostly my mother) always made sure to celebrate both my birthday and my adoption day.

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Adopted from and living in Ontario, Canada

Karen's Story

I was born in February 1971 and adopted at two months old. My adoptive parents had a two-year-old adopted son when I came along.

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Adopted from Newport News, VA • Living in Flint, MI

Jane's Story

My mother was 15, my father was 19 and only in town preparing to deploy to Vietnam.

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These stories are shared personally by members of the I’m Adopted community and published with their permission. Stories are submitted directly by the author through our “Share Your Story” page.

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