The letter and poem below were sent to LIFE FOR KIDS by an adult adoptee. We have her permission to share it with you:

I realize this letter is a little unusual. I am not seeking your services or really needing anything from your organization. I am merely writing to you today because, as an adopted child who has had a very blessed life, I simply wanted to share with you some poetry. So frequently we hear of adopted children who are searching for their birth parents; some are even feeling unfulfilled or empty inside until they discover their biological parents. But I have never felt that way….it is not my story at all. And I feel sure there must be many more happily adopted children out there whose stories we do not hear about…that do not make the news because they are living their lives comfortable with being adopted. I just wanted to speak for us….the well-adjusted, happily adopted children  who are quietly living out lives….I just wanted them to hear an authentic voice-my voice-as an adopted child who is so grateful to have been raised by the family who adopted me. I am one “success story” out of hundreds of thousands more, I am sure. This poem is not fiction. It is a real voice…speaking truth about a real life. I hope my simple poem, which is really a letter from my heart, can bring some insight and perhaps some peace to women who give up their child for adoption.

Dear Mother Who Loved Me First
By J.K.R.

 I wish for you real peace in your heart and mind,
To know that I love and respect you,
To know that I have had a good life filled with love,
Because of you.

You gave me up for adoption.
That couldn’t have been easy, no matter what the circumstances;
To give away a child from your womb.
But you had the courage and innate decency to do just that.

So my life’s path turned away from you…
But also towards a good and healthy direction.
For you see, I was blessed with great parents,
The people I will always call Mom and Dad, the ones who raised me.
They are my family. I don’t have to search for anything for I am not lost.
They are my parents. I am their child.

But I want you to know that I also do not forget you.
For you are the one I will be eternally grateful to.
You made my life happen.
Thank you, my First Mother, my Birth Mother.
Thank you for loving me enough to give me away.
You gave me my life – not only in birth.
For I have been blessed with great parents,
And you were the first.