Heidi Schrumpf’s editorial in the National Catholic Reporter, “Don’t overromaticize adoption in pursuit of pro-life goals,” only could have been written by someone who understands the complexity of adoption on a cellular level, the way Schrumpf does as both birth and adoptive mother. Every thought she expresses resonates, with these sentences standing out:
“The reality of adoption is that it always begins with loss — and that loss can haunt adoptees throughout their lives.”
and
“[A]doption is complex and complicated and traumatic. There is much joy in adoptive families, but adoption is a wound and a continuing struggle for many adoptees.”
As an adoptive mother myself who has spent the past 20 years listening to adult adoptees and thinking and writing about adoption, I’m amazed at how adoption is simplified and misunderstood, often by those with no direct connection to it. For this reason, editorials such as Schrumpf’s are necessary and vital.