Adoptive mother, Ann Brenoff, recently wrote a post for huffingtonpost.com in which she talks about the balance she struggled to find between sharing her families adoption journey and allowing her children the opportunity to share their own story.
In the article Brenoff writes that at first she was an outspoken advocate for international adoption and used her two children as examples of how great life could be.
She said that “On more than one occasion, I invited a family struggling with infertility to dinner and let my kids charm their socks off. Oozing adorableness, my daughter would give them a tour of her room, showing off her precious music box . She’d tell them how it came from China “just like me.” She’d give hugs freely and I could see our guests melt to her sweet ways. It worked so effectively that we know at least three little girls from China who found their forever families because of my kids. And I certainly have no regrets there.”
Brenoff writes that at first she saw her role “as an educator,” but as the years went on she said that her family “stopped being an adoptive family and just became a family.” Brenoff said that she now gives her children the right to their privacy and allows them to share their own story, which she writes that her 13-year-old daughter recently did in her Bat-Mitzvah speech.
This is obviously a question that each family must answer for themselves. We believe that there is a good balance to be had between respecting your child’s privacy and allowing them the opportunity to share their own story, while still advocating for and celebrating adoption. How have other families found their own balance?
Click here to read Brenoff’s full article.