Grandmother Repeats Adopted Child’s Origin Story; Parents Seek Tactful Response
Parents adopted their baby about a week after birth; the birth mother arrived at the hospital on drugs, signed away her rights and died of a drug overdose shortly thereafter. The child’s grandmother often recounts the adoption story, sometimes inaccurately, and the parents asked columnist Eric for advice on responding with tact.
Dear Eric: I really enjoy your column and could use some advice on tact and kindness. My spouse and I adopted our child when she was about one week old. Her birth mother arrived at the hospital on drugs and without any plan for the baby. She signed away her rights but took no part in selecting us to be our child’s parents.
An adoption agency selected us after the birth, and we jumped at the opportunity. The birth mother died of a drug overdose shortly thereafter. We never met her.