Some of you may have read the blog posts I wrote exploring the perceived "issues" that are adoptee-specific. My point was, generally, that there are few issues that are really, at their core, about being adopted. I went through every issue I have ever heard related to being adopted and spouted off (as I am wont to do) trying to figure out if these things were really unique to adoptees or may be concerns for anybody.

Without exception, my logic (and experience) took me to the fact that these issues are for everyone to share. I was convinced that adoptees do not have a corner on most issue markets, from angst and anger at those that raised them, to difficulty in relationships and relating to people, to... well, the list went on and on for four posts. If you are interested, just go back and read them HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE, parts 1 to 4.

Jan Baker, my sister blogger on the FIRST/BIRTH PARENT and ADOPTION SEARCH blogs, commented at the time that she believes there are issues unique to adoptees. She also asserted that, "Being adopted for some just adds another layer of the issues everyone else already has." I asked her to be more specific so that I could understand, and she said she would write a post about it.

Thankfully, Jan is a woman of her word, and just before the end of the year, she did indeed write the post. Thanks for that, Jan. Here it is.

It occurred to me as I read Jan’s list that there were really two lists forming themselves both under the category of "issues." So, addicted to Google as I am, I looked it up. Definition issue. Search.

Issue: n. An important question that is in dispute and must be settled

Issue: n. Some situation or event that is thought about; syn: topic, subject, matter

There it was, glaring at me.

One of the lists forming was more psychologically oriented with issues about unfinished business: in other words, personal problems in dispute that must be settled. The other list contained things an adoptee may think and/or wonder about sometimes. For ease of reference for the rest of this series, I will refer to the former as "Problems" and the latter as "Topics."

[Continued...]