I am adopted. Adoption is when one person takes another person (usually a child) into there life and assumes all responsibilities as parent of the child. Adoption is a good thing, it puts the child in a home were the child can be taken care of. Adoption impacts many teens all over the world. I was born in Korea and raised in the United States and I am proud to be a Korean American. Adoption can be hard on a teen who is adopted and wondering about whom their birth parents are. I am writing this because I want kids like me who are adopted to not give up on searching for their birth parents. I hope this commentary helps kids find their birth parents if they want to and ask questions about adoption.

Adoption can be hard on a teen because the adoptive parents can’t always tell their child that much information. The parents might be limited to the information they can give or have. They may be able to give first and last names and even where you are from. They might not tell you information because they might not want to invade the privacy of the birth mother.

Also your parents might not tell you because they don’t know. They sometimes won’t tell you because they don’t want you to search and be disappointed that your birth mother doesn’t want to meet you because she has moved on. Your birth parents might have a new life and seeing you could change a lot of things in their life. I say go for it, look for your birth parents and try to find them. Even if they can’t meet you, you at least know that they are living. I’m worried about a lot of things, like who my birth mother is, where my birth mother is and is she even alive. These questions I have to deal with every day.

You should also know that there are laws regarding searching for birth parents. I think some of them should be changed. Especially the one that says you can not search until you are 18 years old. I think that’s not that good of a law because people mature at different ages. I think it should be 16 years old when you can begin a search. . I believe most kids begin to mature and get more responsible at the age of 16 years. I talked with my parents and they said that the law is 18 years old because 16 years of age is too young and you aren’t mature enough yet. If your parents say no when you want to see your file its okay, some adoption agency allows only one look at your file. If this is the case they may want you to be older so that you can remember what’s in it.

One good law in some states is that you are a ward of the state for 6 months prior to being adopted. This tells the state that you’re in a good family. I think this is a great law because if the family is bad the state can pull you out of the home.

Adults, try to be open to what your kids think and try to give them as much information as possible so that maybe they can search. I really have strong feelings about having to be 18 years old to find your birthparents. I am 13 years old and already thinking a lot about my birth parents. I have even started to keep a journal to give to my birth parents.

I’m speaking out about this adoption issue because I think we can change it by giving children more information earlier. I think we can do this by decreasing the minimum age requirement for adoptees to search for there birth parents down to 16 years of age, so adoptees aren’t left questioning who their birth parents are.