Adoption Induced Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in Mothers of the Baby Scoop Era

[me b zola]

Between 1945 and 1973, a period often referred to in adoption literature as the "Baby Scoop Era" (BSE), many hundreds of thousands of unmarried mothers in the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Ireland, and the United Kingdom were separated from their infants against their will. They were targeted by a system whose purpose was to obtain healthy newborn infants for adoption (United Nations, 1971, pp. 101-103).
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is defined in the DSM-IV-TR (468) as being a disorder linked to having experienced a traumatic event, and characterized by symptoms such as hyper vigilance, flashbacks, emotional numbness, avoidance of stimuli associated with the trauma, difficulty sleeping, concentrating, persistent anxiety, etc. (American Psychiatric Association, 2000, /Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders/, pp. 467-468).

~snip~

Unwed Motherhood as Neurosis

The theory and goal of the BSE was curative, as if these girls had a disease, as if they were mentally unfit, or as identified in historical literature, "deviant." Babb cites Solinger:

"The Caucasian single mother was expected to pay for violating norms against premarital sex and conception. Her pregnancy, according to experts, was a neurotic symptom. Experts also agreed that only the most seriously disturbed mothers kept their babies rather than giving them up to middle-class Caucasian couples for adoption" (Babb, 1999, p. 44).

~more @ link~

http://voices.yahoo.com/adoption-induced-post-traumatic-stress-disorder-in-5720738.html?cat=5

[TrogL]

1. I may have been one of those babies

[me b zola]

2. I was/am

I was born in 1963 in a Catholic home for unwed mothers. I have searched my entire life and have finally found my biologic mother, two sisters and a brother. Her husband of 47 years has been a source of love and comfort to her as she has grieved my loss her entire life.

I can help if you have questions. I can at least plug you into the right people to help.

[TrogL]

17. I always felt there was something fishy about my adoption

Toronto, Ontario, 1955

My mother was Lutheran and (the story goes) in those times it was simply not done that she would be allowed to keep her baby out of wedlock.

In the last years of her life, my adoptive mother finally fessed up that my birth mother had made a fuss about the adoption. This is the first I've heard that it was an issue beyond just her.

[me b zola]

18. I have named the phenomenon as "the big hush"

It begins when we are children and have questions about our history and we quickly learn that it hurts our adoptive parents feelings to have such questions, so we know to avoid that subject with them. My adoptive mother sent me to vacation one summer at a fabulous beach house in Newport Beech, CA with other older girls that I had never met before. One of the girls was also adopted and apparently it was arranged for the girl to convince me that being adopted was wonderful. What ended up happening is that they saw a weakness in me (I cried easily) and they spent the entire time bullying me. Fun.

Then as an adult I've been completely appalled at how the facts of the adoption trade don't reach the general population because anytime anything is posted about the industry people will show up out of the blue to derail the conversation. The secrecy and lies keep the trade alive and well. The big hush.

[Freddie]

3. My neighbors when I was a kid...

In 1970 their oldest daughter, Patty, then 24, committed suicide. The parents and their 2 surviving kids moved across town but kept in touch with my folks.
In the mid-90s they got a call from a young woman--an adult adoptee looking for her birth mother--Patty. The parents had no idea that she had given a baby up for adoption while she was away at college. While it was sad for the young lady to find out what happened to her birth mother, she had a loving relationship with the grandparents she found. It's entirely possible that the stress of giving her baby up caused Patty to commit suicide.

[me b zola]

6. The suicide rates among adoptees and relinquishing moms is higher than average

I'm so sorry for you neighbor. Truly I am

[Demo_Chris]

4. I was adopted as a baby in 1966

How would you even begin to track down you real mother?

[me b zola]

5. Its kind of a process

I will attempt to walk you through it.

This is the go-to registry for those involved in relinquishment:
http://www.isrr.net/

Not many results here, but it is the place to begin

The next step may be for you to contact a search angel. My search angel found my mother in one day, but I have spent over 40 yrs collecting info, so other searches do not often get resolved as quickly as mine. a search angel will never accept cash or monies. Do some research before giving your private info to anyone

Get plugged into social media! I found my biological paternal side of my family by facebook. I later found my search angel on FB who found my maternal family. There is a page that used to be just to plug in our feelings of being adopted that became quite famous by finding the mother of an adoptee, so now it is an endless message board of those seeking their family lost through adoption:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/You-Know-Youre-An-Adoptee-When/202291792865?fref=ts

I spend very little time on FB but I see on average 5 poster-boards of biologics searching/day

Get involved with the adoptee rights community. You don't have to sign any petition or do anything, just get to know others in the community. They will be a great source of information and friendship.

Best of luck to you and others who may be reading this. You have the right to seek answers. It is after all, your own story, history.

[Demo_Chris]

7. Thanks

[me b zola]

8. You are welcome

I do wish you the best

[Demo_Chris]

11. Yeah, I think I will register for that in the next few days

I have to dig out what paperwork and information I have, and it isn't much.

[me b zola]

14. yes, this is where it gets tricky

...as if we haven't navigated minefields before, lol. We have varying degrees of information, but no clue as to what is true of that info and what is fabricated by the industry. I had grown up believing that my original name was ___ ____ when in fact my first name was switched to be my middle name by the adoption agency~~my mother didn't have a clue about this until I contacted her.

I've heard other stories of adoption agencies changing the birth dates to make it more difficult for family members to find each other.

Just do the best you can with the paper work, and keep an open mind.

Big hugs, you are not alone.

[VenusRising]

9. I wish I could offer advice, but the poster above seemed to have offered you a good place to start.

I just wanted to offer you a big hug.

[Demo_Chris]

10. Thanks. I am not troubled by being adopted or anything

I wish someone less insane had adopted me, but there you go. I was just a baby so I never knew my biological parents.

[VenusRising]

12. My mother was never around.

She left me with my grandparents, and they were some insane people. I haven't spoken to that side of the family since 1999. I just found out my grandmother died 2 weeks ago, and I have no real feelings either way about it.

You offered me support in the past, and I wanted to return the kindness no matter what your decision.

[Demo_Chris]

13. Thanks *hug*

[customerserviceguy]

23. Get involved with genetic testing

Right now, there are three companies doing this, 23andme, FamilyTreeDNA, and Ancestry.com all have places where you can submit a DNA sample, and see if you match anyone in their databases.

You might find a second cousin or closer, that would surely put you on a track to find a bio-mom and/or dad.

In the last couple of weeks, I've submitted samples to all three, hoping to find at least ethnicity, and maybe something a bit more.

[nadinbrzezinski]

15. Hugs to all of you...

[Feron]

16. An excellent book on the subject that should be required reading..

is THE GIRLS WHO WENT AWAY :The Hidden History of Women Who Surrendered Children for Adoption in the Decades Before Roe v. Wade by Ann Fessler.

[me b zola]

19. Thank you for posting that

I posted several pieces from Ann here, with very little support. This really is a feminist issue, it should receive more acknowledgment here at DU.

[MountainLaurel]

22. I went to a book reading when it first came out

Several of the women whose stories she told were present in the audience that night. Their testimony at the event was heartrending.

[Samurai_Writer]

20. This went on after 1973 as well

I was put into an unwed mothers home run by Catholic Charities in 1978 by my parents, and was told 'don't come home with a baby'. The staff at the home only told us about how we were not fit to be parents. They used guilt and shame to keep us 'in line' and on the 'adoption track'. Whenever a girl expressed the hope of keeping her baby, we were told 'there are TWO loving PARENTS out there waiting for a child. It's best for the baby to give it up. Don't be SELFISH.'

This goes on even today, although the language has changed a bit. Now, 'open' adoption is held out like a carrot to these girls. "Oh, but you will get to CHOOSE the parents! You will have CONTACT with your child!" They don't tell these girls that any contact they are able to have is at the whim of the adoptive parents, since 'open' adoption is not written into law. Many young women who have chosen 'open' adoption find that adoption slammed closed as soon as their parental rights are signed away and the adoptive parents have the child.


You can read my entire story at http://www.oocities.org/CapitolHill/2991/marybb.html

[me b zola]

21. Yes, it still happens

Thank you very much for posting this very important information.

I am so sorry for what happened to you~and the millions of others too