Over the weekend I received a link to information about a national organization responding to National Adoption Month. The organization is Origins USA and the article states that Origins USA is a national organization of mothers who have had children taken for adoption, see this as a very painful, life altering event, and not something to be celebrated.

On the 30th of November, members of Origins USA, other supporters of natural families, various activism and support groups and their friends and families will be observing "National Strange and Mournful Day." This day will be observed by those supporters by wearing a black, purple, and white ribbon.

This is apparently something new that Origins USA has tried to institute starting with this year. I had not heard of it prior to receiving this link and honestly am not sure how I feel about it. I get the point that they are trying to make, which is that with every happy story of joy, there is a story of loss, pain, grief, and sorrow and that adoption is not the wonderful win/win situation.

It would be nice if we could survey triad members whose lives have been irrevocably changed by adoption to find out what percentage of these folks would consider their own adoption experience a tragedy and how many consider it a blessing. The fact that everything about adoption has been kept secret for so long makes that impossible. We are often reminded that a self-selecting survey is bound to produce less than valid results.

No doubt, for some women who were coerced into surrendering a child for adoption, everything about that experience is painful. And for some, that pain carries over into reunion if there is one. Anyone who subscribes to a search and support list-serve, or who belongs to a group has seen some of that. And most will also know an adoptee who was a misfit in their adopted family as well as some who truly feel a part of the family that brought them up.

But one person's experience of adoption does not negate another's. Even some who have found adoption to be an overwhelmingly positive experience do not see National Adoption Day as something to celebrate. Many of them spent the better part of a recent Saturday telling people about ISRR. All this month, triad members have participated in a variety of activities -- from public programs to letter-writing activities -- designed to let the rest of the USA know what is wrong with adoption as practiced in this country. Why don't you add your voice to that by writing your local newspaper, or your elected state legislators about the subject?