The search for information about Hope’s family started a year ago for me. I starting digging for numerous reasons, I suppose, but mostly I was curious about how this kid ended up in my home instead of with her parents or with some extended family. I just couldn’t understand how somebody in her family couldn’t make a kinship adoption work.
Honestly, it is still a mystery to me on some levels, even if I now know–intellectually at least–why.
I poked around with the help of a friend on Hope’s father’s side of the family. I had more information about him; I knew where he was from; I also had a better sense of who he was because Hope talks about him a lot.
All I have about Hope’s mother is her full name, nationality and a scattering of information in the adoption disclosure records. Hope and her mother were separated when Hope was very young; there aren’t many memories to go on.
Hope has been wanting to get an account on Ancestry-dot-com. I’ve declined repeatedly. Lots of reasons for that. I know that as thirsty for information as Hope can be, that showing her the records I have managed to acquire over the last year, in what I hope is a safe, controlled environment still triggered some emotional tailspins. And while that’s true, it’s is hard to say no to a kid who just wants to know who she is. Add to that the developmental teen years when identity development is so front and center, well…
This weekend Hope and I visited some family; at some point in my trip one of my sisters was cruising around looking for family on Ancestry. It was a fascinating process, tedious too, uncovering some family history, maybe a secret or two and just seeing how far back we could go. I noted my own sister’s curiosity about our family. Earlier in the day I had taken Hope to meet a family member who still lives in the same county, on the same property near where my mother was raised. I spent a lot of my childhood there playing the fields, picking grapes and berries, listening to box fans whirl while propped in windows during the summer. These experiences in these places with my family are very much a core to who I am.
And just like that, unexpectedly, the tail end of Spring Break was all about family.
So, when Hope publicly asked me to sign up for Ancestry last night, in front of my family, I couldn’t say no; even though I am still not positive we are stable enough to handle what we might find.
So, on the way home, Hope and I talked. Talking about Hope’s mom is tough. The feelings are raw; the viewpoint is unforgiving, the experiences and feelings are locked in a protective glass case.
I opened the case last night, cautiously. I shared what I knew; dropped a bombshell that I did know about Hope’s lineage. Then I spent a good 30 minutes talking to hope about grace and forgiveness sometimes being for our own benefit, and that I’m sure her parents would have been able to make different choices if different options were available; or if they thought/knew different options were available. I tried to explain that systems are not always set up to help us in the ways we need to be helped.
Hope wondered what life for her would’ve have been like if her parents had the help and support they needed. I remember how I felt rejected when the first time she said something like this; I don’t anymore. I just feel sad because I wonder what life would’ve been like too, for all of us.
When we got home I showed Hope some more papers from her disclosure records that helped me know what I do know about her parents. There are some things she wants to frame.
It was a bit shocking to me that she wanted to frame a copy of a copy of a document. But I get it. I just wish that we didn’t have to wait until she is 18 to get authentic copies of things she’s entitled too. It infuriates me that I can’t request them on her behalf–after all, I am legally her mother now. I also know that these documents are important to Hope’s healing and development.
We also talked about what it might feel like to stumble upon some big information on Ancestry. Was Hope ready? Was she ok with that? What would it feel like? Now she’s not so sure she’s ready to search for stuff. It’s not that I don’t want her to search at all; it’s the uncontrolled environment that scares me.
Even more so, it’s the reaction to information and what it means for my coping with her coping that scares me.
Sounds pretty selfish, but honestly, other than in my own therapy and a couple of close friends, I don’t talk about what the emotional upheaval is like in my “real” life other than to say it’s hard and I’m still standing.
We go through some emotional stuff around these parts. It’s sooooo much better than it used to be. We’ve gotten better at processing it, but it is never easy. It takes a toll.
And I’d be lying if I said I wish I could avoid it, even though I know I can’t.
This family journey search will likely be one of the most important, most challenging, most enlightening, most shocking, most scary, most awesome journeys Hope and I will travel together.
I’m scared I won’t get it right. I’m scared that whatever grace is needed from me will run out. And yeah, to some degree, I’m scared that I might get rejected.
So, like many things I’m going to work on this behind the scenes for a while and see what I can find so that I’m prepped and ready to help Hope find herself–because that’s what this is really about, right?
AdoptiveBlackMom 