Adopted: Love, loss, family and reunion

by Brigitta Baker, Jo Willis

Overview

To not know your family story is a huge loss of your sense of self. It has the potential to undermine your well-being and your relationships across a lifetime. Adopted is the powerful and honest account of two of the thousands of children affected by closed adoption in New Zealand, from 1950 to the mid 1970s. Jo Willis and Brigitta Baker both sought and found their respective birth parents at different stages of their lives and have become advocates for other adopted New Zealanders. They share the complexity of that journey, the emotional challenges they faced, and the ongoing impacts of their adoptions, with candor and courage. Closed adoption also exacts a physical and emotional toll on birth parents, partners, and children. Their stories are also told in this compelling book.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781991016119
Publisher:	Massey University Press
Publication date:	08/11/2022
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	240
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Brigitta Baker was adopted during the closed adoption era, and has been in reunion with her birth family since 2008. Her professional experience ranges from advisory roles in the public sector through to positions with large corporations within human resource management, training facilitation, leadership development, organizational development, and coaching. Alongside her day job as a senior leader, Brigitta is training in psychotherapy with the aim of working more deeply with adopted people to help them process their experiences. Jo Willis is an adopted person and a specialist in the field of adoption counseling, coaching, and education. She is viewed as a leader in personal development within the adoption field. As an adolescent, she lobbied local and national politicians for amendments to be made to the 1955 Adoption Act. At the age of 21 she was reunited with her birth family prior to the change in legislation. Jo then became part of the implementation of the 1985 Adult Adoption Information Act, leading to a 24-year career as a social worker, senior practitioner, and supervisor.

Table of Contents

Foreword 6 Prologue 9 Introduction 11 PART 1: Brigitta 1: Denial 19 2: Curiosity aroused 35 3: Meeting my other mother 43 4: Pandora’s box 53 5: The final piece 65 PART 2: Jo 6: Are you my mother? 87 7: The search for self 107 8: Reunion reality bites 115 9: The after-effects 121 10: Waking up 129 PART 3: Severed Ties 11: I wanted you to have a family — Jan 151 12: The family that never was — Sue and Tony 163 PART 4: The Legacy 13: The ripple effect 173 Afterword 223 Appendices 227 Further reading 232 Acknowledgements 235 About the authors 237