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Adoption stories


Sharon Cuartero
Danbury, CT

Birth Country: Philippines
Decade of adoption: 1970s

I was born in the Philippines in 1976 and adopted at the age of two-and-a-half by a Jewish-American family. My adoption experience has been filled with hardship, questions and lessons of acceptance and moving on.

As a child, I viewed myself as someone ordinary with a special story. As a teenager, my special story became a source of anguish and heartache. I longed to know who I was, who my biological parents were and why I was given up. As a young adult, my anguish turned into despair. I stopped taking care of myself and didn't value the life that I lived. I felt abandoned and completely alone. I shut out my family and friends who desperately wanted to help me.

As an adult, I am coming full circle. I have made amends with my adoptive family. I have a supportive husband and loving friends. I am learning that I cannot live in the past. I have learned to accept what happened to me, to be grateful for the life that I have been able to live and for the people who have stood by and loved me through it all. I look forward to becoming a mother soon and hope to take the lessons that I have learned and am still learning and pass them on.



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