An Adoptive Legacy
Recently, actress Katherine Heigl (Grey’s Anatomy) and her husband welcomed home their daughter, Naleigh, whom they adopted from South Korea. It’s great that Heigl adopted, and it’s great that the couple adopted a special needs child. But the most interesting part of the story for me is that Heigl’s sister was also adopted from South Korea. In other words, Heigl grew up as part of an adoptive family and felt compelled to extend that legacy as an adult. Along these same lines, I recently reconnected with a guy I hadn’t talked to in a few years and found out that he was an adoptee and that he and his wife adopted their son a few years ago. Wow.
It’s hard to articulate why, but this idea of an adoptive legacy really resonates with me. For those of us who are adoptive or foster parents, I hope our kids want to continue the legacy as adults. Not to put any pressure on them, of course, but kids from adoptive families who grow up and start new adoptive families might be good indicators that their parents did something right. Since my daughter is only a year old, check back with me in 25 years and we’ll see how I did …
Alison Noyce says:
I felt that same feeling when I read about Katherine Heigl’s adoption. I was adopted as an infant and raised in a family formed by both birth and adoption. I now have 2 bio daughters and 2 adopted sons. When I told my mom (my dad died years earlier) that my husband and I were adopting, she said “Good, now you’ll know what your father and I went through to get you kids!” She was right! It created a deeper bond between us as we went through the adoption process and we compared notes. I too, hope my children will choose to continue the legacy of adoption when it is time to form their own families.
Scott says:
Alison,
What an amazing story! Thanks so much for sharing with us.