First, I was adopted when I was 2 weeks old and never knew anything about my birth parents. I have never really had any interest in getting to know them until recently.

Earlier this year, I had a cancer scare which led me to wondering if I have a family history of anything else. I looked on my [amended] birth certificate, it only shows my adoptive parents.

I've been looking up information on how to request my original birth certificate and have been seeing mixed information. Some of the information says I need to fill out and send a form to the Department of Public Health and another says I need to go before a judge and state my case for obtaining the documents. Does anyone have any insight into this process?

Note: I was born in Illinois, which is a closed state (meaning all adoptions are sealed).

TL;DR: Not sure how to obtain my original birth certificate (to find out about my family medical history). Does anyone have any insight into this process?

Adoption is generational here. For context, I (28F) am half-adopted (step parent adoption). My biological father who I have nothing to do with (by choice) was adopted as a baby.

I recently obtained his adoption records is search for my paternal natural grandparents. I have names now, but it turns out my grandmother was placed in a home for unwed mothers as a teenager. In my search for her, is it appropriate to post her name on Facebook groups or elsewhere on the internet? I’m aware often mothers who were in these homes had their children forcibly adopted by the church and often family members are unaware. (For example, future children unaware of a sibling).

Curious for people’s opinions.

PS Australia if that matters

My sister confided in me that she’s thinking about giving up custody of her son. She had neglected him badly and she is not well mentally. She wants him to have a more stable caretaker and his dad is abusive. I would be the next one to take him in. It’s a huge step and because of the neglect he has experienced he is a handful to take care of. I love him and I primarily take care of him anyway. Any advice?

My dad was adopted by my grandmother's second husband. I knew, and was familiar with both men. I do have a copy of my dad's amended birth certificate. Is there a way to get a copy of his original? Located in Texas.

so…my situation is not very typical, but i need to get it off my chest.

i’m 28 yo, only child. my parents passed away already and took this huge secret with them…but i found out about my birth story on accident. couple of days ago i was reading through my mom’s notebooks from 1980-1990’s and stumbled upon her period dates — it says, that mom had her period during her “pregnancy”. i thought it was suspicious.

it was known that she had struggled with fertility — my dad and her were married for 13 years before i was born. i was always told that she is my biological mother — like God had sent me to them after years of waiting. in 1996, when i was born, my parents were 35 yo.

i look exactly like my father and his side of the family. i look a little like my mom — my face shape, my small lips, ever my nose — partly.

so when i read her notebook i’ve decided to call my aunt (mom’s sister) and ask her about my story — i was expecting something like “yes you are an IVF/surrogate baby” thing but she, with her calm voice, straight told me that i was ADOPTED. i was shocked — horrified. i thought she’s gone crazy. so i called my other aunt and she confirmed the information. i was adopted at birth and my parent are not my biological parents. my mom just couldn’t have children and they gave up.

i went to some government place to check if they have any documents about me at the archive. and they did! i was born by some women, 42 yo, and i was her 5th child. her latest kid was born in 1985 — 11 years before me. my parents adopted me — they’ve changed my name and my birth date. even my zodiac sing is wrong: i’m not a leo, i’m a cancer.

so i decided to contact my dad’s family — i still look like him, so it’s too weird. how many chances there are to adopt a random baby who looks similar to you?????

so the end of the story: i was told that my father worked in the police in the early 1990s. he met this women during some operation — i think she was a hooker or maybe worked for mafia (it was 1990’s russia). they’ve had an affair — my mom knew. she asked dad to leave the police because of it. but my dad and this women, my bio mom, kept their “meetings”. she got pregnant. my father told her that he’s ready to marry her and start a family, he was ready to leave my mother. but this women denied his proposal. she said she’s too young for this (lmao) and wants to move to the country’s capital. so she gave birth — and left me for adoption 5 days later. my father knew about it — he and his friend from police basically faked the documents and put some fake names here and there. i checked the papers — there was some info on my bio mom, but zero about my bio dad. my father came to my mother and told her that he “found a child” and everything is settled — they decided to adopt me. my mother was never told that i am a bio child of my father and my bio mother is his…mistress. i think she knew, but not from my father himself. so my mom’s side don’t know the original story. my father’s side always knew. even my younger sister knows. i was the only one unaware about my own origins lol

so….yeah. complicated story. does anybody have a similar one?

p.s: i’m not fluent in english, sorry

Hi, I’m new here. I am a 25 year old mom of three children. One girl who is 9, boy 2 another boy 2 months. I don’t come from the best back ground, not even a decent one. My childhood was crap and I thought I had it together. Even after getting pregnant by a guy much older than me at 15.. Life really got me when I turned 20. Something happened that resurfaced a lot of childhood trauma for me and I have been on a rollercoaster since. I am married to a great, hardworking, caring man. He loves me dearly but I am struggling with postpartum depression. I started Wellbutrin about a month ago. I am recently unable to work due to no village. My MIL use to but broke her trust one too many times because of her addiction. So now, I am a stay at home mom with two stinky boys who I love sooo much. But I feel very overwhelmed. My husband is gone all day. 5am till 6pm. We do our walks, park and other activities through out the week but I’m stuck feeling “stuck”. I’m realizing I may not be cut out for this. I try what I think to be my best to be a good mother but I’m realizing my only example of mothers are not so good ones. Yes, I’m doing better than them but am oh so lacking in other departments. I dissociate a lot, I am adhd )which Wellbutrin has helped some), have ptsd, and panic disorder. Yes my kids are clothed, fed and have the material things but I lack the emotional aspect. I’m literally faking everything. Maybe a couple times a week I’ll feel happy and actually enjoy playing with my kids or talking to them (9 year old). I’m realizing now that I may very well indeed be this person for the rest of my life. I have fought it so hard but it never seems to stay away. When I’m good I’m great, when I’m down it’s hell. I try to keep it away from my children as much as possible. I use to stay distracted by work. To make a long story short, it’s too late to be that happy mom for my 9 year old. Unfortunately she’ll remember mom always being nonchalant or sad. Thank goodness for her dad. But my boys, it’s not too late. They’re still young and I don’t want them to have that memory. I want them to have a bright colorful childhood. I am not able to do that for them and am considering adoption. I would like to know if any other bio mothers are in here and chose adoption for their older living children. I have considered moving cities to be closer to my village to possibly lessen my load, my husband shot it down, he loves his job and works with his father who he proudly looks up to. We move quite a lot and have only lived back in our home town for 2 years after being in Houston for a year. I understand him and I don’t want to put that on my daughter either. I’m sorry for the soap box. Thanks for reading.

I 35f and 37m husband have never been blessed with children. We had come to terms that it was something never in the cards for us and were content with the lives we have made. Recently our 20 year old niece became pregnant with her second child. She reached out to us in regards of adopting her child because she does not and cannot have a second child at this stage of her life due to financial issues as well as her and her current boyfriend not wanting to have more kids. If we won’t adopt she has made the decision to go to an agency to see her options but for her termination would never be a choice. We are hesitant because even if they both sign away their rights we are afraid that with them being so young that they may change their minds down the line. We are not against the adoption and see it as a blessing sent by his late sister, my nieces mother, who we lost earlier this year. I guess what we need is advice and maybe the best way to protect ourselves as well as our niece and the future child. This could all get very messy down the line and we promised our sister we would always look after her kids when she passed. I guess we are just afraid of this fracturing a family that we don’t want to hurt.

Helloo, anyone know of any in person (preferred) or online support groups around the Sydney or Blue Mountains area in NSW, Australia?

Desperate to meet other adoptees and finally be able to talk to people who get it.

Thanks a bunch

My partner was adopted as an infant. His bio mother was just a teen and it was just one of those situations where it just wouldn’t make sense for her to keep him since she was literally a child herself. In her “application”, she mentioned she would be interested in meeting him in the future, but she was obviously 15 then and a lot can change. All her information such as full name and address are listed in his adoption paper. Through some online sleuthing with my partner’s permission, of course, I believe I may have found his bio mother’s information. Nothing on FB or a direct social media account. But I believe her address is the same as well.

Does anybody have any advice as to how we should reach out to her? Since we aren’t 100% sure she still lives in that address, I don’t want to mail a letter, but at the same time, I don’t want to just show up at the house.

This is definitely very new territory for us, so here we are. I would love the perspective of a bio mom, if possible!! Especially if you have any similar experiences as described here.

Thank you!

i have been reading some of what this page has to offer and well.. my heart breaks with a majority. my lady is adopted and ive asked way to many questions about the way she felt, feels. and me well i didnt have much of a father goin up. he would just love his girls and smack me around. ironically enough a couple years ago my lady got me a 23n me.. lol turns out i wasnt his son. none the less i still miss him. (killed on his motorcycle)

35 year old male from Arizona. and well long store short. i was 18 when a girl told me i had nothing to worry about and that the kid she had in her belly was an old homie. fast track 6 years after and i get a call from a state attorney (not arizona) askin if id be willin to take a paternity test. two weeks later 99.99999% positive. that was in 2010.

i guess now im here askin if?...

do i try to search her? do i wait for her to come find me? why did her adoption need to be sealed away from me?

honestly im scared. confused. nervous.

For reference, we are based in Indianapolis, Indiana

My husband and I are pursuing an inter-country adoption and we're required by India (sending country) to obtain local background clearance letters. This requirement is separate from the FBI fingerprint clearance and the criminal history background check we completed as part of our home study.

We've called the Indianapolis police department and the county sheriff's office and neither knows what we're talking about and just direct us to our state police. Are there any Indianapolis couples who've been through this process before who can share what they did here? I appreciate any advice! Our agency hasn't been much help, unfortunately.

So I have done a lot of looking into my birth father (who took off and left before I was born).

I have found so many of my relatives on his side.. just not him. The family also knows nothing about him. I have only been able to do anything I can to search and find him, that’s been affordable to no cost. I do have his social security number and was wondering if there is anything I could do with it to help the search or what steps to take with it.

I also have done ancestry and all that.. I don’t get any tips or leads on him. I have done search sites. Nothing. I have looked through obituaries.. everything.

At a stand still..

Hey everyone. 37 M So 2021 my adoptive father passed away, his side of the family (most not all) kind of ghosted me. No more merry Christmas no more happy birthdays. Wich honestly didn't bother me all that much. I always felt like the black sheep. I was atleast 14 years younger than my other cousins. The cousins that came after me where alot younger. So I was stuck in the middle. It was more of an open secret that I was adopted at a young age (3 years old) so it felt like most people tolerated me. As far as my mom's side of the family well she didn't have any. So the only family I felt I had was my dad's side. After he died I went thru a deep depression. Not only cause I missed him but I no longer had his family. I had been looking for my bio parents for years. It was difficult to say the least. The hospital i was born in was gone, the agency was gone. I did have both parents first and last names, but they were typical Hispanic names. Any Facebook search would bring up hundreds of people with there names. Well one day my friend got me an ancestry DNA kit. I figured why not. BOOM! I had alot of results. There were 2 that were 26 and 24% match. I was thinking hey maybe they are cousins. Nope half sisters. I reached out to both, one replied withing a few days my younger sister from by biological mothers side. The other match replied about a month later. My younger sister from my biological fathers side. I was over joyed, come to find out on my mother's side. I have 4 sisters and a brother. My father's side i have 3 sisters. Over night I went from an only child to having 8 siblings. I met everyone and we started a relationship. There was one thing that hangs heavy tho. They all had a life before me. They all have inside jokes, family traditions and things that people who were raised together have. I again felt like an outsider. The black sheep. I love my siblings but I can't shake the feeling of being on the outside looking in. Im not sure if anyone else has had these feelings or maybe it is just me.

TLDR; I just found out that I have two younger siblings that have stayed with my unstable birth parents their entire life. Shit is crazy.

Backstory:

I was adopted at 5wks old and grew up knowing that I had three fully biological siblings (same bio mom & dad), but didn’t have any contact for years.

I finally got in contact with my oldest fully biological sister and through more information coming out and two DNA tests, I found that my biological mother was married before and had two children that stayed with their birth parents.

After finding that, I found out that my biological mother had another child after those two with another man we do not know.

After finding ALL of that out, I find out that my birth fathers last name was not his real last name and his entire side of the family had been looking for us for YEARS, they didn’t even know I existed.

After finding that out, I got in contact with my birth parents (awful meeting).

This all happened around 2021-2022.

I now have found out two years later that I have two younger siblings that stayed with my birth parents their entire life a state away.

Our family history feels like a fucking experiment.

We are now trying to get them out, because they lost their other children for a reason. There is so much more information I’m leaving out too like them trying to escape to Mexico TWICE with TWO DIFFERENT KIDS and more.

I just wanted to get this out.

I(18f) was adopted at birth by two amazing parents. Although my childhood was kinda rough I don’t blame anyone for it. It’s just what it is and there’s nothing anyone can change or do anything about it now. A little background, my mom and her sister are adopted and so is my brother. None of us are related to anyone in the family we grew up with. My mom came into contact with her birth family a couple years ago and it went well. I’ve met them and are really happy to have more family. My adoption was an open one, my birth mom sent letters and birthday presents sometimes whenever her mental health was getting better. Shes had a rough life fr. I did have a lot of issues regarding people leaving me and me feeling abandoned and alone. My parents have always been open about my adoption and what they know happened. I never really think about me being adopted fr, I’m just kinda living life how it comes lol. Last night I had a video call with my birth mom. It was really helpfull getting to know the full story or atleast the one from her perspective. It was like we were the same person lol. It went perfect and I want her in my life more. I invited her to my graduation and she’s gonna come!! I’m really excited for this new chapter. But my mom seems kinda down about it. I get that a lot of stuff is going on with her rn but I just kinda wish she was as excited as I am about it. Maybe I’m reading into it too much, my dad said this was gonna happen and that I shouldn’t take it personally. I’m the youngest kid of two, and I’m set to go to college out of state. I’m “leaving the nest” lol. And I get that that’s stressful for parents and my mom’s best friends are moving to Barcelona which sucks because now my mom feels like beryone is leaving her which we aren’t. I’m literally gonna come back home every break during college. But I know it’s really stressing her out, and I think a little bit of it is that my relationship with her is kinda strained fr. Idk we just never really connected, we don’t have the same interests and she really wanted a girly girl and I’m not. She had a breakdown to my dad when I was a kid because I stopped wearing dresses and girly clothes. I personally don’t think it’s that big of a deal it’s clothes I’m still the same person lol. But it’s kinda stressing me out fr.

So my sister has 2 children (3 and 1 years old) and one on the way. Same dad, but he is a deadbeat and abusive.

She is... Drowning. She has mental health issue and we simply do not have the capacity to help her in child care. Recently I suggested she might need to consider options for her children to be adopted as it will give better lives for her and her kids. She seems to be comfortable in at least exploring the options.

I do not know the first thing about adoption... I know it really isn't my place, it is her decision, but what can she expect in this path? Is it just way harder for non-infants to be adopted? Any possibilities for the siblings to stay together?

Hello all, this is just a feeler I suppose to see if I would even be suitable as an adoptive parent. I am only 24(f) so it wouldn’t be anytime soon but I’d like to start thinking about it all the same

Myself and my partner both live in the UK and are British citizens, we both work in the NHS with stable jobs (him in radiation and myself in admin) we are buying our first home soon and this is what started me thinking as we were discussing how many rooms we need

I have been advised by my doctor that childbirth could be dangerous for me due to my health history. I was hit by a car and suffered a back injury as well as developing PTSD so I’m at high risk for complications such as postpartum depression

Luckily I am solidly in remission with my PTSD and have been for over a year since undergoing EMDR therapy but before that I had on and off history of Depression and Anxiety (nothing too serious as I kept on top of it with therapy, mindfulness and medication)

My PTSD does, however, flare up in times of stress such as financial hardship

My partner is one of the most mentally stable people I’ve ever met and we work together to make sure everything in the house is kept clean and tidy and both of us are in top condition. He really is my rock

We are both extremely close with our own parents and have a large, loving family. We’re financially stable and responsible with savings

Knowing this, would an adoption agency consider us as prospective parents?

Edit to add: I would not be looking to adopt just a baby, I would genuinely be open to all ages. I volunteer with children and have several nephews that are all loud and noisy and messy and I love it! Children are most certainly NOT a trigger for my PTSD

For context, our daughter is Japanese, my husband and I are white, this is an open adoption, we have open communication with her birth father, we have a visitation and contact plan to facilitate a relationship between them as long as she wants to continue it.

She will learn to speak, read, and write Japanese, I'm fluent and we're raising all of our kids in an English/Japanese bilingual household. We're also incorporating many Japanese holidays, milestones, and traditions into our lives, there is an area pretty close to our neighborhood with a high Japanese population and there are opportunities there for her (and her siblings), if they desire, to explore martial arts, kendo, Japanese archery, and many other aspects of Japanese culture. we've visited the area several times and made some new friends in the process. A few of the moms who live there with babies of a similar age have invited my daughter and me to "Mommy & Me" at the local park. This Saturday will be my second time attending. We looked for such a place, expecting to move closer to, or perhaps into the nearest large city, but there's a neighborhood like this, in our current town, roughly ten minutes from us.

We're also making bi-annual trips to Japan, for two reasons, 1 so she can spend time with her birth-father, and 2, so she can spend at least a little bit of time, in her home country immersed in the culture in a way we can't provide any other way. She even has dual citizenship until she reaches adulthood. Japan doesn't normally allow dual citizenship, but they do with children if the child was born/is living abroad and at least 1 birth-parent is a born Japanese citizen. Essentially, she will have until age 20 to decide which citizenship she wants to maintain, a decision that we feel is entirely up to her once she's of age to make it.

Is there anything else I should be doing?

hi :) so i’m Chinese but i was adopted by white parents, and of course I love my parents but sometimes I can’t help feeling kind of jealous when I see Asian families together/see other Asian kids with their biological parents :/ I feel horrible about it and like I’m ungrateful for feeling this way. It definitely doesn’t help that almost every time I go out with my parents, someone has to ask if I’m their exchange student..

I’m a Chinese adoptee from the one child policy era and my papers just say I was found in a farmers market and then taken to the hospital then the orphanage.

I think my only option to find some answers would be dna testing but I’m kinda scared of what I’ve heard about companies selling our dna/info.

Should I still do it? And what companies is better 23&me vs ancestry?

Hey there. I would like some advice from people who are more intuned with adoption etiquette. I am a sibling of someone who was put up for adoption. Its a family secret and im not supposed to know about it. My father admitted once that my mother only one time drunk told him about her son she gave up but the next day and after she denied harshly. I want to find my brother but since its such a topic of shame for my family would it be a douchey move if i got a PI to search for him and find him?

To preface, I know it’s case dependent and I should just go with my gut, but I also know there’s no going back so want to really make sure I have everything as good as it’s gonna get.

I’m 25 years old, was adopted from birth in an originally open adoption that faded off quickly. We had limited information about my birth parents. Anyways, I recently took an ancestry DNA test which, just with a last name, resulted in me finding my birth parents on Facebook within an hour. I compared identifying information from records to photos we have from the hospital and I am sure it’s them. I have decided I want to reach out at some point and I’m going to create a fake FB account to reach out to them on…I want to protect my identity in case it’s a negative reaction so they can’t track me down, while giving them some sort of space so they don’t know any additional information about me if they don’t want to. Unfortunately it seems like the agency won’t be of much help in this endeavor. So I want to know:

What things did you reflect on before you reached out? What word choices or message, if you’re comfortable sharing, did you use? What message was important for you to get across? What came of it and would you do anything differently?

I’ve decided to reach out to my bio mom first. I have no expectations from reaching out - I essentially just want her to know I’m okay and I’m not at all offended about however she chooses to take it. I’ve heard from others that it can be magically positive or terrifyingly negative, so I think I’m as prepared as I can be for either. Give me all of the opinions, experiences, vibes!

Hi I'm M(31) and my wife is F(31). Due to some medical complications earlier this year my wife had to go through hysterectomy and we are unable to have children. I am currently on H1B work visa and my wife is on dependent H4 (residing in TX). Will we be able to adopt an infant in the US?

I was adopted as a baby. I’ve always found relationships difficult when it comes to trust. I think I have major abandonment issues and self esteem issues due to my adoption. I can’t help but feel totally out of control of my feelings when it comes to jealousy.

I over analyze social situations with my partner and convince myself that he is attracted to someone or that someone could easily take him from me.

Has anyone been able to overcome these feelings? overcome

I (39) have twin cousins (also 39) and well.. their adoption is a family secret.

My mom and their mom were pregnant at the same time, but their mom lost her baby in the middle of the pregnancy. Depressed, she went to her mother’s home. Suddelly, 3 weeks before I was born she came back the with newborn twins.. when people asked how she got them, she said it was from a surrogate, with her eggs and her husband sperm. No one believed because it was 1984, it is south América and there was not enough time since she lost her baby.

Around 6 years ago, one of the twins was diagnosted with an hereditary disease that will kill her in 10-20 years. She told that all the family should do genetic tests…. No one did.. she already told me twice.

Last month I met the other twin and we talked a lot. And I felt so bad thinking that I know something about him..

I want so much to send an email to this cousin and he can choose to share or not with his sister. I just want to tell him that his mom lost her baby and 3 months later arrived with them.. I can not tell it is me..

Am I crazy to want to do that?

When I was 2 I was basically in foster care about to become an orphan, however I did not since god didn't want that and my mom was able to survive and take me back, I love her with all my earth, I deep down do even tho I may not have had the best childhood without a father I still love her, however I just honestly wish I was adopted rather the so much bullshit trauma I went through, on top of that she was never a good mom, she cannot cook real food and she used to feed me terrible food, ontop of that when growing up she would beat me sometimes.

The real problem that affected me comes when I turned 16 she not only made me get a job which is normal every teenager can work however it's not the same as most of my friends who save it all up, I had to pay for my own food and other bills and on top of that last year on my 17th birthday she made me pay her car insurance which I never really got back because she said she paid for my food when it was literally her job

I'm 18 now and again same thing gonna happen she wants me to land her money

I see people who are adopted at my age who doesn't really have problems and there non blood parents still love them, like my friend was adopted and hes living a better life then me so I know it's probably crazy to say this as adoption gives other types of trauma to alot of people here however deep down if I had a better family I'd he more happy right now then depressed.

Again this is just for what I think obviously if I got into care not only there would be a chance I never got adopted but if I did it doesn't necessarily mean I'd be happy, most likely other problems would come, this is why in general if you can't respect your kids don't make them.

I'm sure she has the option to sign me up for adoption, so maybe she could've done that and gave me a better life instead of just planning to give me a terrible childhood after 16, like that's not the right way to think, like yeah let's not give him the right family and raise him terribly then make him suffer more at a mature age, it's really unfair

Title sums it up pretty well. I’m very close with my dad, I call him my best friend. We talk about everything (well, mostly…everyone has secrets). I found out through my mom (pettily; they’ve been divorced since I was 5) that my dad was adopted from birth. I immediately asked my dad about this. He says that it never occurred to him to disclose because his family was always his family; he never thought about his biological family and in fact he didn’t know he was adopted until he was 19 going to college and had to turn in his birth certificate and other docs. He never got upset or thought about it again. I expressed that I was upset because 1) we are close and I found out through my mom who I am not close with 2) I already have identity issues because of other reasons from my childhood and this news is making me feel like I really don’t know who I am anymore. I don’t know my true family history, health issues, nothing…I understand that your family can be made, but I feel like my upset is valid too. Am I wrong?

EDITED TO CLARIFY - when I say “true family history” I don’t mean his family is not true because he’s adopted. I mean as in true vs false, because I’ve been filling out health information based on the information I know about his family, only to now know none of it is accurate since we aren’t biologically related to them.

I am the assumed bio father of a child conceived in high school with a girl I was casually dating. I did not find out she was pregnant until she was several months along, our parents found out, they decided the baby would be placed for adoption. I had no say or agency over the situation whatsoever. This was almost 25 years ago in a small town. Taking a paternity test was not something I thought about, as I was only 16. The adoption was semi open, my extended family stayed in touch with the adopted family. I kept my distance as I was struggling with the whole situation and never given much support. Fast forward, my bio child is now grown and has reached out to me. We have stayed in casual contact, I am doing my best to try and follow their lead, but I honestly have never worked through the trauma of the situation so it isn’t particularly easy for me. On the other hand, they have gotten very involved with my extended family, visiting my parents, all of my aunts, uncles, cousins etc. Since we started getting to know each other, it has been nagging me to confirm I am actually the father, since it was merely assumed all those years ago and all the decisions were made on my behalf. I was a child myself and had no idea how to handle the situation. The last thing I want to do is offend or upset anyone, but I am struggling with this. The child being extremely involved with all of my family (who I barely even have contact with) makes it all the more complicated. How can I approach this? I’m scared of damaging any future relationship we could form, like I will be an asshole for questioning it when my entire family has their arms wide open. Thanks for reading if you made it this far. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Hey all, I was adopted from Asia at 6 months old by 2 white parents here in the States. To my knowledge, I was in an orphanage the first 6 months of my life. I'm not in contact with either adoptive parent because of a dysfunctional and abusive childhood. As I get older (early 20s) I realize my anxiety surrounding being alone (like living truly alone, no roommates etc) is getting worse and I'm wondering if that's a common thing with fellow adoptees and if so, if there are techniques you've found works to be comfortable alone? Thanks in advance!