An excellent essay by a Utah-based 7th grade adoptee provides a personal perspective on adoption.
The Provo, Utah based Daily Herald published a piece entitled “Student essay: Living life with questions from adoption,” written by a young woman named Hallee Randall. The piece was published on January 3rd, 2015. The text from the piece can be found below, or if you’d prefer, you can find the piece by going to the following link:
Student essay: Living life with questions from adoption
The following is the sixth article in a series of stories written by Freedom Academy seventh-graders who were selected by school and Daily Herald staff for publication.
“My name is Hallee Randall, and I was born in Little Rock, Arkansas. I was adopted when I was two days old. I have two loving, amazing and talented sisters, a wonderful mom and a funny country dad. When I was adopted my sisters were 11 and 13 years old, so my mom has always said that I have been a teenager my whole life. I talk like one, and I have that bratty teenager attitude.
Like every adopted kid I know, I have always had this one question that never ever goes away, “Why did my mom and dad give me up?” I have wondered about this, and I am sure that other adopted kids do, too. I think most people who give their kids up for adoption are teen parents or a single parent, and they know that they can’t keep the child because it would be too hard; they know that the kid could have better life with a different family.
I wonder if my real parents actually loved me? I am sure they did and that it was hard to give me up. That’s probably why my mom did not want to see me when I was born because if she did see me, she would see how cute I was and realize how much she loved me — that she would want to keep me. She must have wanted me to have the best life possible, like the one I have with my family now.
I have always wondered how my life would have been if my real mom kept me or if someone else adopted me. I think that I could have ended up with a foster family or even in an orphanage. I could not even imagine my life without my adopted family, if my sisters weren’t there. I love my sisters, they have made me into what I am today. I was with them all the time. I love everything about my life with my adopted family, and I would not want it any other way.
So far, I love my life with my adopted family — they love me so much and they spoil me rotten every single day! My family has given me so much, that I would not have had with my real family such as playing soccer, cheerleading, tumbling, gymnastics, softball, dance and all of the things that I love to do. I don’t think I would have been able to do these things if I were with my real family.
Since I was born when both my sisters were teens and pre-teens, I have talked and acted like a teen my whole life. When my sisters started to date, my dad always said, “You can’t date till you’re married.” My dad has always said this and he still says it to this day. So like if I have a party and boys come, my dad says, “Now Hallee, remember that you can’t date ’til you’re married” or he will say, “Are there any boys coming to this party? Because if there are, I will get the guns out.” My dad is so amazing he has always been there for me when I didn’t make then soccer team or I didn’t have a good day at school.
My mom is the same way. I am hardly with my dad; I am with my mom almost every single minute of the day besides when I am at school. My mom has done everything for me, from helping me with homework to driving me all over for soccer like Las Vegas, Phoenix, Denver, San Diego and St. George and so much more.
Lately, my mom has been asking me more questions about being adopted and how I feel about it. She just asked if I would ever want to go and visit Arkansas and maybe try to find my birth family? I have thought and thought about this. What if I did go and visit Arkansas? What if I found my birth mom? What if I decided that I liked my life better with her than with my adopted mother and my adopted family? How sad would that be for them if that happened?
But then I just thought to myself there are a lot of “what ifs” in those sentences, and “what if” doesn’t mean that they are going to happen. But for a kid, we think that “what if” means that it is going to happen and then we get stressed and worried. I think on the bright side of things. If I found her and then I started talking with her, then maybe she could answer some of my “what if” questions. It might be nice, but I am so glad that I will always have a life with the family that adopted me. I love my family and I am so thankful that I was adopted into such a great family.”