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Adoption
There's no such thing as a 'normal' adoptive family as every situation is different.
You might have been adopted as a baby, a toddler or a teenager. You can be adopted at any time until you're 18.
You might have memories of your birth family or not and you might be adopted by a relative, by foster parents or by parents you didn't previously know. You also might be adopted internationally, which means your adoptive family live in a different country to where you were born.
Adoption means that you legally become part of a new family and no longer belong to your birth family. If you were put up for adoption by your birth parents, there are many different reasons for them to decide that. Often, they want the child to have a better life than they feel they can provide.
If it's your decision whether to be adopted or not, then it's something you need to think carefully and seriously about. An adoption order is for life and it's a very difficult choice to make. You can ask for counselling to help you decide what's best.
Adoption doesn't mean that you have to cut contact or never know your birth family. Many adopted people stay in contact or search for their birth family.
Being Adopted
If you were adopted it's natural to have mixed feelings about it. You might be very happy as a member of your adoptive family, but still want to find out more about your identity and where you came from or who your birth family are.
Emotionally it can be very stressful to decide how you deal with adoption and whether you want to know more about your birth family or not. Maybe you need to decide if you want to keep in contact with your birth family or learn more about your country and heritage if you were internationally adopted.
The best way to deal with these feelings is to talk about them with other people. Talk to someone you trust such as a family member, friend, counsellor or social worker.
