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Personal reflection Support Services

Adoption Trauma: a Personal Reflection

How do we come to recognise that we are traumatised? At what point in your life do you allow yourself to be excused—and to excuse yourself—because you finally realise you have The Trauma?  When I say ‘finally’ I mean that as adoptees we have lived our lives thinking that we were ‘not quite right’ because […]

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Adopters Personal reflection Support Services

Gaslighting, or, Please Listen to Adoptees

Adoption makes people uncomfortable. If you mention you are adopted you generally get one of two responses: a slight look of horror and a quick subject change, or a tilted head “poor you”. I get it. Adoption is complicated and you don’t want to put your foot in it.  Of more concern are those who […]

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Adoption Health Lifelong Impact Mental health Personal reflection

The Harsh Reality of Living Without any Medical History

I am an adoptee born in 1974 and adopted 8 weeks later. I speak from lived experience of inheriting a genetic condition, Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (EDS) from my first mother but only discovering this in my 40s. I’m 49. When I look back at my life up to now, I can pinpoint times that I […]