SSU Student’s Post-Grad Search will be for Her Biological Parents

The standard post-college job search may not be the only search I embark on following my graduation from Salem State University. I'm adopted, and I feel that I have a big decision to make regarding whether or not to search for my birth parents.

My adoptive mother has encouraged me to go on this search after graduation as a means of thanking my birth mother for the opportunities she gave me. From what I know, my birth mother allegedly grew up jumping from foster home to foster home and didn't want the same for me.

I do not have a lot to go on as far as details are concerned. I'm not part of an open adoption, and my mother suggests that my birth parents may have been friends and things may have escalated to another level for a brief time.

There's no guarantee if I do decide to make contact that I'll find both parents. Whatever the outcome is, I should be able to thank someone for the opportunities I had and tell them of my accomplishments in college.

Now, I'm not under the impression that my birth parents were teenagers at the time, but somehow with regard to parenting, they were in limited positions. I don't resent them, but I've been left with a number of questions, such as those about my medical history. For example, should I be aware of any health issues and should I worry about the health of the children I hope to have someday? The only medical history I have is my own, and I have no genetic history to report to doctors. All I want to know is if I should be aware of any risks.

Another thing I hope to find out is my heritage. It would be interesting and informative to find out what my bloodline is and where my ancestors are from. Due to my fair skin color, there is speculation I may be Irish. But fair skin could mean a number of backgrounds.

Growing up I knew other students who were adopted as well. Their adoptions were more open than my own; I believe one student remains in occasional contact with his birth mother, and another student has a photo of her birth mother.

Having been educated alongside fellow adopted individuals, I was curious about the number of adopted people in the United States and whether they've searched for their birth parents and whether or not they were successful.

According to adoptioninstitute.org, there are 1.5 million adopted children in this country. Annual national adoption totals have not been accumulated since 1992, as states aren't required by law to record either private or domestic adoptions. That same year, the National Center for State Courts (NCSC) estimated that stepparent adoptions make up 42 percent of adoptions.

This astonishes me because I assumed the majority of adoptions took place amongst virtual strangers. However, the way divorce rates peak and fall in this country, I wouldn't be surprised to find more modern statistics that suggest the same.

Child Welfare Information Gateway published an article in 2004 suggesting that the number of adopted individuals wanting to search for birth parents is increasing. Birth parents are also interested in searching for the children they put up for adoption too. A study in 2001 by Muller and Perry addressing abroad and domestic adoptions indicated that half of adopted individuals will start the search at one point in their lives. The result that the adoptee uncovers varies with every case, but there have been successful reunions between adoptees and birth parents.

I don't know what to expect if I decide to search for my birth parents. I anticipate a stronger likelihood of finding my birth mother than my birth father. If they were just simply friends, my birth father may not have even known of my existence. Despite that, I'm staying open-minded. There's no other option and I have to believe that my birth mother put me up for adoption based on selfless reasons.

For the time being, I'm left to wonder about my medical history, my heritage and the reasons behind being put up for adoption. Although I don't have a bloodline identity, I'm a member of the Ribeiro family and in many ways, I'm Italian and Portuguese like the parents who raised me.