Adoptive parents help their children make sense of the past. The tragedies that happened to them were not their fault. And their lives were not completely tragic. There were family members they loved and lost.

No one really leaves the past behind. It comes with us as we grow and create meaning from it. The children are good human beings. Who they are becoming includes everything past and present.

Well known author James Michener said, “I was born to a woman I never knew and raised by another…I do not know my background, my lineage, my biological or cultural heritage. But when I meet someone new, I treat them with respect. For after all, they could be my people.”

Personal Glimpses, Reader’s Digest, August, 1989