Ash Said It® Daily

It’s stunning to realize that only 10 states make birth records available to American-born adoptees and their biological parents—Alabama, Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Kansas, Maine, New Hampshire, New York, Oregon and Rhode Island. For adult adoptees born in the 20th century era of closed adoptions, this presents a painful obstacle to discovering their origins and ending the agonizing hunger to know their own identity. Janet Sherlund poignantly captures this journey in her elegant and heart-wrenching memoir, ABANDONED AT BIRTH: Searching for the Arms That Once Held Me (Forefront Books; May 7, 2024). Sherlund paints a vivid portrait of the detachment and longing of an adopted child and the lifelong quest to find her biological mother. It’s an unflinching examination of the grief and trauma caused by this primal separation and the dogged determination it takes to face the forces of opposition—both internal and external—to finally achieve answers. ABANDONED AT BIRTH illuminates the darker side of adoption, and