18 years ago, when I wanted to adopt, I knew no adoptive families. From agency selection to handling our baby, we went with intuition, luck and a lot of help from family and friends… none of whom knew exactly what we were experiencing.
By the time we adopted our second one in 2010, we knew a few more adoptive parents. A few friends had adopted. But everyone lived in different cities and countries. Thanks to social media, we were connected, though only one-on-one.
Then we moved to Gurgaon and I joined an online group for moms. I would see queries on adoption and read the well-meaning but completely bizarre responses from other women and feel terrible that these people who’d shared their deepest concerns had no one to talk to. At least, no one who understood.
I decided to start a Facebook group called Born from the Heart. This was a closed group where I added 4 friends with adopted children. Ready with this, I started browsing mommy groups and whenever I saw an adoption-related post, I’d respond with a suggestion to join the group. One member at a time, slowly, the group grew. Members are people who had gone through the process themselves or were in the midst of it or just starting off. There is support, discussion, sharing of stories and pictures. This is a space where there is zero judgment and 100% support!
From the 4 people I knew, we are now 200+. It’s not a huge number but it’s heartening when I hear people who’ve met on the group have actually become close friends, a huge support for each other.
With Gayatri Abraham starting Padme, we started getting regular inputs on adoption-related issues, news and discussions. It’s a wonderfully symbiotic relationship and together we hope to help make adoption a much easier process and create a community that is always there for each other.
Posted by Mallika Vasudev
This article originally appeared in http://www.thewonderwomenworld.com/born-from-the-heart/
