I don’t remember who said it, but I do remember that we all agreed. This was over 3 years ago. We were 5 women sitting around a dining room table having a board meeting, but also just talking about adoption. The term “the triad” (referring to birth parents, adoptees, and adoptive parents) seems to ignore the whole that is adoption. Extended families, adoption professionals, friends and partners are all left out of the equation as if their lives are not affected by adoption.
For convenience sake, we still use the term to refer to the three specific groups; however, the word feels pointy and divisive. The word evokes an image of three groups standing forever detached from each other. Divided. She didn’t coin the term, but it was Nina who suggested “constellation” as an alternative. Immediately it felt right to us all. Speaking it felt like second nature as we all recognized that we are indeed a part of a greater adoption constellation that reaches far beyond ourselves and our positions in the triad.
When we first imagined creating a magazine, our ambition was to create a magazine that was different than any other adoption-related magazine available. But it soon became apparent that we didn’t just want to BE different. We wanted to MAKE a difference.
One needs only to take a cursory look at the adoption blogosphere (in many ways a microcosm of the broader adoption community) to see how polarized we have become. Many constellation members tend to stay in their own corners with tenuous, if any, bridges between them. The purpose of Adoption Mosaic’s magazine The Adoption Constellation is to help build and support these bridges, with the ultimate goal of improving our adoption experiences.
As the Creative Director and Editor of The Adoption Constellation, it is my hope that each adoption constellation member will initially read our magazine because they feel, on some level, that it speaks to them. Then, by default, will be exposed to other articles and viewpoints they may not have been exposed to had they not picked up a copy of The Adoption Constellation.
A year ago, a new acquaintance of mine, an adoptive parent who has since become a respected friend and colleague, asked me “What is this adoption constellation you’ve spoken of, and how do I become a part of it? It sound’s wonderful.” It is indeed wonderful. And joyously rich and complex, and at times, heartbreakingly isolating and lonely. This mosaic of extremes, and everything in between, makes up the heart of Adoption Mosaic, and the essence of The Adoption Constellation.
The Adoption Constellation will not be for everyone. If you are looking for a magazine that portrays only one side of adoption, that speaks to only one group, and looks the other way when things get complex, then The Adoption Constellation is not for you. However it is my belief that most readers (and supporters of Adoption Mosaic) are broader minded than that, and will appreciate the diversity of the features and articles.
I’ve learned so much in the process of creating this magazine, about myself as an adopted person and other constellation members as well. I am not naive enough to think that after reading a few issues of The Adoption Constellation theadoption community will suddenly join hands and voices to sing rounds of kumbaya. But I do think readers with open hearts will walk away one step closer to understanding themselves and the experiences of other constellation members. And if I’m right, then at the end of the day, this is way better than any song.
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The first issue of The Adoption Constellation will be available free on our website www.adoptionmosaic.org this Fall. Subsequent issues are available through subscription only. More information to follow.
July 19, 2010 at 1:39 pm · Posted by Tara · Filed under Introduction
Not to be missed! New York Times Bestselling author and Adoption Mosaic volunteer, Jennifer Lauck, talks about life, writing, women, enlightenment and her latest memoir on finding her first mother.
March 10, 2010 at 7:15 pm · Posted by Tara · Filed under Introduction
“Ideas for Change in America is a national competition to select the best ideas from across the country and turn them into reality.”
Register your vote to help promote this cause. Just a couple days left! Visit change.org for more information.
February 3, 2010 at 10:17 pm · Posted by admin · Filed under Introduction
The goal of the Adoption Mosaic blog is to create a safe space where adoption community members can voice their experience, dialogue about issues, and learn from one another.
We recognize that our diverse community won’t always agree, but feel that disagreements can be vocalized in a respectful manner. In order to ensure our blog remains a safe space for both bloggers and commenters to communicate freely, we ask that commenters follow this simple rule.
December 11, 2009 at 8:56 pm · Posted by Tara · Filed under Introduction
There is a new reality show on ABC called Find My Family (Mondays 9 PM Pacific). From the creators of Extreme Makeover Home Edition. I saw this show for the first time last Monday, and to be honest I’m not sure what to think of it. It came on when I was doing some work on my computer, and, obviously, due to the subject matterit instantly grabbed my attention. The show finds and reunites adoptees with their birth families. The two hosts are both adopted, and take a very sympathetic role. Reunions take place under the “family tree” a large shady tree in the middle of what looks like a meadow.
Is anyone else out there watching this show? What are your opinions?
This ground-breaking study by the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, to our knowledge, constitutes the largest, most extensive examination of identity development in adopted adults in the U.S. And it does so by asking the experts – adult adoptees – about the experiences, strategies and choices that promote positive identity development. Too often, our understanding of identity, particularly of those adopted across race/ethnicity, has been formed through research only on children and youth. Similarly, conclusions about identity in transracial adoption too often have come from the perspective of parents, not adoptees themselves. The Institute’s study focuses on adult adopted persons, gaining their understanding of how they have integrated “being adopted” and their race/ethnicity with other aspects of themselves that, together, form an identity.
The New York Timesreported on the study the day before it’s release, and since then many others have weighed in on blogs, in editorials and articles. What are your thoughts?
November 5, 2009 at 8:59 pm · Posted by Tara · Filed under Introduction
Eugene based Adoption Connections of Oregon is holding their annual conference in Eugene, Oregon this weekend. Our own Shelise Giseke will be doing an Adoption in the Classroom presentation at the conference. You can watch her KVAL News interview here.
We’ve been blogging here at Adoption Mosaic since July of 2008, but we’ve never specifically spelled out our purpose- at least not publicly. Livia, Astrid and I, have spent hours in off-line conversations discussing the mission of our blog and our website. We’ve talked about it over email and conference calls, over coffee and during knitting nights, but we’ve never blogged about it until now. Read the rest of this entry »
Several weeks ago Anita Tedaldi, guest blogger on the NY Times Motherlode blog, wrote about terminating the adoption of her toddler son 18 months after adopting him (original blog post can be read here>>). This story traveled quickly around the internet and eventually was picked up by the Today Show early this month:
I am certain I am not alone in feeling particularly sensitive around the topic of disruption, and it is virtually impossible not to have strong feelings about this particular situation. However, the issue for me is not whether I think what Anita did was wrong, or whether I believe baby D. is now better off, but rather; why on earth was this child placed with her in the first place? Read the rest of this entry »
The goal of the Adoption Mosaic blog is to create a safe space where adoption community members can voice their experience, dialogue about issues, and learn from one another.
We recognize that our diverse community won't always agree, but feel that disagreements can be vocalized in a respectful manner. In order to ensure our blog remains a safe space for both bloggers and commenters to communicate freely, we ask that commenters follow this simple rule.
