Journal Entry

This intercultural adoption proves that love conquers all

On a very cold January day in Chicago, the adoption agency called my parents to deliver the news that a baby was available for them to adopt. I assume that since they adopted my brother, three years before that day, they were thrilled to hear the news that a baby girl was available. I imagine my mom, who loves to shop, was eager to purchase pink dresses and hair ribbons.

Before my parents could start dreaming of a new addition to their family, the adoption agency informed them there was a problem with this available newborn. My parents immediately thought the baby had a physical or mental disability or an awful disease. Would this be a problem so severe that it would cost them millions in health care, or even worse, heartfelt emotional pain?

The huge crisis turned out to be that the baby was half Mexican. She was also Italian with a dash of German. Back then (1968), adoption agencies tried to match the nationalities of the adoptive parents with the infant’s. That way, the family members would look alike and no one would suspect a thing!

Looking back, I now understand why my Swedish mother would serve me tamales at lunch time. I guess this was her way of introducing me to my culture.

Thankfully, my parents were smart enough to inform my brother and me, at a very young age, that we were adopted, no details included. They would always tell us that we were the same nationality as they were. They could easily pass me off as Croatian and Swedish because I turned out to have auburn hair, hazel eyes, and a freckled face. Also, there was no medical history provided, which would one day be an issue for my brother and me. He had a massive heart attack at the young age of 38. With some type of medical history, this may have been prevented.

In those days, it was natural to adopt a child and never discuss where he or she came from or to acknowledge the adoption at all. Our neighbors decided against telling their son that he was adopted. Years later, the story eventually leaked to him, which caused him much confusion and stress. Thankfully, adopted children today are provided with an abundance of information, which in the long run, extinguishes the mystery involved in their identity.