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janinebaer.bsky.social
Janine Baer 🌈 ☮️ 🕊️ 🌁 🌻 🔯
@janinebaer.bsky.social
1.4K followers 620 following 1.9K posts
An #adoptee, my book "Growing in the Dark" explains who was behind the sealing of adoption records and the harm done by these laws. https://www.xlibris.com/en/bookstore/bookdetails/572366-growing-in-the-dark
🕊️ "Never again" means never again for anyone.
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janinebaer.bsky.social
🌟 “Although privacy turbulence is often perceived negatively, participants in this study perceived turbulence related to the disclosure of adoption information as a positive change. In fact, many participants hoped for more turbulence, in the form of a completely open adoption system...” 🥚
November 11, 2025 at 12:37 PM
janinebaer.bsky.social
Any time!
November 11, 2025 at 12:58 AM
janinebaer.bsky.social
Here's a little history about how adoption agencies made birthmothers anonymous: a 1936 quote by an agency worker who says secrecy was the birthmother's idea and her name is unknown. This was a script (of lies) to tell adoptees.
— "Growing in the Dark: Adoption Secrecy & Its Consequences," p. 68
The top of page 68, "Growing in the Dark: Adoption Secrecy and Its Consequences" (2004). The first paragraph quotes a 1936 book, "The Adopted Child" by Eleanor Gallagher, who was an adoption agency volunteer. This book from the early years of sealed records tells adoptive parents anticipated that an adoptee would asks about their birth parents but they would be told there was no information. "Furthermore, at this solemn moment in her life, she decided that secrecy was best for you. We, in whose charge you were temporarily placed, have made that secrecy inviolable, your loving adoptive parents have accepted the situation, whether they originally wanted to or not, and now you, too, can be a fact-facer by realizing that further details about your origin simply are not on record anywhere." Thus, following the agency's script, the reason behind lifelong secrecy became the birthmother's wishes; her voice was made to speak the agency's philosophy while her own voice was guaranteed never to be heard. "The Adopted Child" revealed that an adoption agency might choose to control the lifelong experience of adoptees—allegedly on behalf of birthmothers—in its decision to withhold information. — Janine Baer, author of "Growing in the Dark"
November 11, 2025 at 12:14 AM