My name is Black Sheep. I call myself as such as I am not only the Black Sheep of the family but I am in fact also Black. I was born and adopted in the late 1960s. Adopted by my white parents who already had two biological sons.   Born to a young single black woman I was relinquished and it was decided I was to be adopted whilst in the womb.   Back then there were many pleas in papers for adopters to come forward and give black babies loving homes. I was lucky enough that my parents came forward and did just that. My Dad was my hero and biggest fan and ..read more

Yoni Ejo  Cisgender  Lesbian and hurtling towards 60!    I was born in Southampton in 1965. The product of a brief liaison between a white local woman and I believe black American seamen. She advised social services that she didn't really like black people (i am paraphrasing) and therefore she did not feel comfortable parenting this new child. She was in a marriage and initially her husband was willing to take on this new child on but he changed his mind.    My birth mother Elizabeth was the third generation of women in her family to be brought up in a child ..read more

A guest blog by Mike Burrett for the Black and Adopted Series “Being Black growing up in an interracial family was tough for me.” My name is Mike. I am a 41-year-old man from Bedfordshire in the South-East of England. I am Black, though I often identify as ‘Brown.’ I was adopted at birth by white parents, who adopted an Asian child before me. They went on to have two children naturally. We are a very culturally mixed family. I have always known I was adopted, well, for as long as I can remember. And you might say, it’s pretty obvious!  Growing up in a mixed family had many ups and some ..read more

Image: Eating Disorder Recovery Symbol Living with an Eating Disorder (ED)  is hard at the best of times. But I often find that changes in routine can make perusing recovery a lot harder. I’ve just started back at uni and not only is it my final year. It’s the first time going into uni since the start of the pandemic. I’ve decided to share a few things that I’ve been doing that I find helpful in moments like these.  Disclaimer: Me sharing these does not mean that I’m successful at doing them all the time, some of them I find super hard and that’s okay. I’d also like to mention that ..read more

A special guest blog by Cat Theresa for the LGBTQIA+ and Adopted Series and Bisexual awareness week. Introduction My experience of being bisexual has similarities with my experience of being adopted.  I know this is a big stretch, so hang in here with me.  Both are hidden and that gives them particular issues around visibility and disclosure. In our hetero-normative, kept-normative society, people assume heterosexuality and biological family connection unless there is evidence to the contrary.  There comes a time when you have to decide whether to ‘Come Out’ as adopted and as b ..read more

A blog by Shania for the LGBTQIA+ and Adopted series. Trigger Warning: Eating Disorder Growing up, I had a crush on pretty much every boy I encountered. They were all future husbands with whom I would have kids and live happily ever after.    That’s pretty much all I wanted, a husband and a baby. Looking back now, I realise that what I was truly searching for was a place to fit in.    My birth mother struggled with drug dependency, so I was fostered very young. At the start of my life, I went back and forth between my birth mother and the family that I would later call my ..read more

A guest blog by Andrew Roilan Wheelock for LGBTQIA+ and Adopted series. My name is Andrew Roilan Wheelock. I am a transracial international gay adoptee. I was born in the Philippines and adopted into the Wheelock family in Connecticut, U.S. when I was 10-months old. I grew up in a predominately white small town in Fairfield County Connecticut, U.S. and with my entire white family. Growing up a different race from my family made it utterly impossible for them to not discuss my adoption. I would regularly hear the story of my arrival to the states and how I wouldn’t sit down in the car so my br ..read more

Hi I’m Mare, my pronouns are she/her, and I am a transatlantic adoptee from Belarus at the age of one. I was raised near Chicago and still have a slight soft spot for this city. My adoption story has been a difficult topic until recently. I’m more confident to share my honest feelings.   If you had asked me 15 years ago about how my adoption has affected me, I wouldn’t have been able to answer, I wasn’t able to connect my mental health to my adoption. Now fairly recently coming “out of the fog,” I can say many of my anxieties and other mental health challenges can relate back to my adopti ..read more

A guest blog for the LGBTQIA+ and Adopted Series by Mickey Osthimer. Trigger Warning: Sexual Abuse My name is Mickey, he/him/his. I am a musician and writer based in Louisville, KY. I currently work in a kitchen and food delivery. I am 28 years old. I love all things related to Irish, Scottish, Peruvian, and Chilean history and culture, as these are the places where my biological relatives and ancestors come from. I love the outdoors and hike/camp regularly. You might be envisioning a long-haired, bearded guy with silver circle-frame glasses driving a Subaru along picturesque, winding mountai ..read more

A guest blog for the LGBTQIA+ and Adopted series by Haley Hudler Greetings beautiful people, My name is Haley Hudler, and I am a Chinese bisexual adoptee with she/her pronouns. My adoption from China happened in 1997 during the “One Child Policy.” In this period, many Chinese children were adopted overseas, and my adoption has impacted my sense of self in feeling powerless over my life and autonomy. I feel my adoption was inevitable because so many children were being aborted and/or given away due to coercion from the government. I DO feel blessed by my adoption because I had a good childhood ..read more