As we celebrate National Adoption Awareness Month this November, NTD wanted to give viewers some insight into adoption from a heartwarming and, often, heart-wrenching new memoir. Adoption is regularly painted as a joyful, inspirational act—a baby finds a new family and lives happily ever after. But a truth seldom discussed is that many adopted children experience a sense of displacement and rupture from their birth mothers that can affect them for the rest of their lives, and that can result in depression, behavioral issues, anger, anxiety, PTSD, higher suicide rates, and more. Adoption is a trauma for the child, and the lifelong journey toward their identity is often overlooked and not honestly talked about.
In her new memoir, “Abandoned at Birth: Searching for the Arms that Once Held Me,” Janet Sherlund explores the inherent need adopted children have for a sense of belonging and the pain and courage required to discover their true identity.