How it feels to know that you are no longer alone

FROM 1997 to 2001 I was very involved in helping Irish adults who had been adopted to the USA in the 1950s to find their birth families.

I also helped birth mothers on this side to try and find their adult offspring. It was an emotional minefield. The amount of hurt that I encountered in the adoption triangle (adoptee, birth parents, adoptive parents) was immeasurable. I didn't get off too lightly either. Looking back, and having talked to many affected by the adoption process, I am not as opposed to adoption as I was back then.

In an ideal world, children should be brought up within their own family structures. If this is not possible, those who are adopted should be kept within their own borders and culture as much as possible.