Regarding Wednesday’s article, “Marysville pulls together to help stricken family regroup:” I really enjoyed this heartwarming article and I am glad that this family was able to find joy in the midst of such tragedy.
That said, I hope to give you a bit of an education about adoption language and etiquette.
In your article, you mention their “natural-born” child and “natural daughter.” This is an antiquated term and not a term we use in the adoption community today. We prefer the term “biological child,” “biological daughter,” “birth child” or “birth daughter.”
To refer to a biological child as “natural born” implies that an adopted child is not natural, regardless of the misguided definition of “natural” in the dictionary. As an adoptive parent, I assure you that there is nothing unnatural about my daughter.
Powerful and unfortunate stigmas are still attached to being adopted.
What people say is indicative of what is in their hearts. By changing the language we use to define families and the state of being adopted, we can slowly change attitudes.
Lisa T. Osborne
Everett
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