Comments on: They’re Not “Technically” Siblings…

By: Open Adoption Roundtable: Siblings — U.S. Infant Adoption

Open Adoption Roundtable: Siblings — U.S. Infant Adoption — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 12:32:34 +0000

[...] written about siblings before. I’ve even written about adopting siblings, which I had completely forgotten about. But what [...]

By: My Favorite Posts of 2009 — U.S. Infant Adoption

My Favorite Posts of 2009 — U.S. Infant Adoption — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 13:51:31 +0000

[...] They’re Not “Technically” Siblings: a post I wrote in response to those who simply deny biological relationships. [...]

By: weetooinc

weetooinc — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 17:00:08 +0000

I don’t think we do any service to our children if we try to seperate or conceal their identities from them. I believe at the end of the day they will respect and love us as parents more for it. Just becasue I adopted my daughter doesn’t remove her from being someone else’s biological daughter. I must also say, my adopting her “absolutely” makes her my daughter, definitely not my “technical” daughter.

By: colgoo

colgoo — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 17:38:16 +0000

I think this is a very good point. Anytime we qualify people’s relationships to us to imply that they are or are not “technically” related, feelings are bound to get hurt. The important thing is recognizing those people who are involved in a child’s life with correct and non-demeaning titles.

How do we as adoptive parents feel when someone says of our children, “Well, they’re not technically siblings….”

We get a bit protective don’t we? They are siblings, PERIOD! Legally and in our hearts, they are siblings. So, why would we as adoptive parents ever hold back and say that our child’s biological half or whole siblings are “technically” siblings, but don’t deserve acknowledgment? Does the finalization of an adoption completely take away our child’s biology? Of course not. To deny a child an opportunity to know about their birth parents and siblings if there is an opportunity for connection is not in the best interest of that child. Even with a closed adoption, we should not feel that we have to hide the fact of known siblings. There is no shame in knowing you have relatives, whether you see them much, or not all.