So, been thinking for a while about sharing our story of adoption in the hope that it might help other families and because it is such an incredible journey, it feels somehow important to document. Maybe one day it will also be important for our daughter who shall remain anonymous as this is her story too and she may not want to share it. I’ll call her Angel as we called her our ‘angel child’ for the first six months of her time with us, knowing full well that as soon as she felt safe enough, a more fully rounded two-year old would emerge. She was also referred to as an ‘angel child’ by her birth mum and dad who had lost a previous pregnancy and so were very grateful when they fell pregnant with her. Angel is 9 and will be 10 in July. Right now we are what I call ‘in the cut’. We have just come out of our longest spell of equilibrium (about 3 months) and I felt a new baseline of her self-worth had been reached. It probably has but when the wound opens up, it’s incredible how deep ...
The Zoom meeting was at 2.30pm. We are all on time and, as the faces come into focus, there is some adjustment needed with birth mum and the social worker in different bottom corners of the screen. They shuffle closer, tilt the screen, heads briefly disappearing and reappearing. I can see birth mum is nervous, still; she is holding herself very carefully. ‘It’s nerve-racking isn’t it, although not sure why, like when you’re getting married,’ I say, trying to break the tension, and we all laugh. The laugh lands, but lightly. ‘I was thinking about what we needed to talk about in this call,’ I continue carefully, feeling the weight of emotion, ‘and thought it would be good to tell you a bit more about Angel, but wanted to know if you wanted to say anything first.’ ‘I just want to thank you for giving Angel such a good home and being amazing parents’, birth mum says. The words hit hard, which feels silly, as I had expected tears. I ask hubby to pass me the tissues, knowing I won’t manage t...