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New student organization at MSU offers safe space for adoptees

Courtesy
/
Carmen Campbell

In the early 2000s, thousands of white U.S. families adopted children internationally, from Asia to Central America and Africa.

Now, these children are in their early 20s and figuring out how to navigate their identity as transracial adoptees.

At Michigan State University, a new group dedicated to creating a safe space for them is in its first year running on campus.

Carmen Campbell was adopted from Guatemala and heads Together We Rise.

WKAR's Megan Schellong spoke with Campbell to discuss why she created it and what goals it has for the adoptee community.

Interview Highlights

On the void on campus she's hoping Together We Rise will fill

Adoptees, not only at MSU but like in the whole nation, are definitely a demographic that is like hard to reach out because it's not something that you see like right upfront when you see someone walking down the street. So, I wanted to like create this safe space for adoptees to share their stories, where they feel that they can be understood without having to answer all these questions about being adopted.

On the importance for non-adoptees to learn how to talk about adoption to adoptees

I think that it is important because there is this triangle of adoption. There's the birth parents, the adoptive family and the adoptees. And I think that often times without realizing it, adoptees get left out of that conversation with talking about adoption. And so, adoptees have firsthand experience of what adoption is, and for non-adoptees being able to understand this whole concept of what can be beautiful, they need to understand all three areas.

On the narrative surrounding adoption she's hoping to challenge

One challenge that, like, adoptees face, as I said, is like the comments of being grateful and lucky. It's not to say that we aren't. But there's a lot of trauma and confusion and complications that go around there. So, we want to highlight that not necessarily our lives a better, but they are different lives than what we would have had, but we have the added adoptional trauma.

Interview Transcript

Megan Schellong: In the early 2000s, thousands of white U.S. families adopted children internationally, from Asia to Central America and Africa.

Now, these children are in their early 20s and figuring out how to navigate their identity as transracial adoptees.

At Michigan State University, a new group dedicated to creating a safe space for them is in its first year running on campus.

Carmen Campbell was adopted from Guatemala and heads the group, Together We Rise.

She joins me now to discuss why she created it and what goals it has for the adoptee community.

Carmen, thanks for joining me.

Carmen Campbell: Thanks for having me, Megan.

Schellong: How did you come up with the idea to form Together We Rise?

Campbell: Coming to MSU you wanted to find like a certain peer group here. And I was kind of lost with navigating these two worlds that I come from with the one that I was adopted from, and the one that I was brought to.

So, I kind of thought that there would be other adoptees who might be able to relate to this experience and these feelings.

So, I wanted to meet them. So I kind of reached out to see if there were any other adoptees who might be interested in starting a group [here at MSU]. And, to my surprise, there was a lot of like, feedback with adoptees.

Schellong: What void in the campus community are you hoping Together We Rise will fill at MSU?

Campbell: Adoptees, not only at MSU but like in the whole nation, are definitely a demographic that is like hard to reach out because it's not something that you see like right upfront when you see someone walking down the street. So, I wanted to like create this safe space for adoptees to share their stories, where they feel that they can be understood without having to answer all these questions about being adopted.

Schellong: Ok, Carmen just really quickly, tell me some of those questions that you frequently get asked as an adoptee.

Campbell: Some examples could be like, "Oh, so do you know your birth family? Do you know your real parents?” And I'm like, well, I consider like my real parents, the ones I was raised with. And then some other questions could be like, “Oh, so your birth mother didn't love you?” And they don't realize all of this, like other trauma that is surrounding it.

Schellong: if you’re just joining us, we’re speaking with an MSU student who started a group dedicated to adoptees. Carmen, Why do you think it’s important non-adopted people learn how to talk to adoptees about adoption?

Campbell: I think that it is important because there is this triangle of adoption. There's the birth parents, the adoptive family and the adoptees. And I think that often times without realizing it, adoptees get left out of that conversation with talking about adoption. And so, adoptees have firsthand experience of what adoption is, and for non-adoptees being able to understand this whole concept of what can be beautiful, they need to understand all three areas.

And that first one is highlighting adoptees, who have their own experience with how they were raised and how they were adopted. And as being able to share their story is a way in which they can learn not every single adoption story is the same; it is just one step closer into navigating, like, the realness of what adoption is.

Schellong: What narratives surrounding adoption are you hoping to challenge with the formation of this group?

Campbell: One challenge that, like, adoptees face, as I said, is like the comments of being grateful and lucky. It's not to say that we aren't. But there's a lot of trauma and confusion and complications that go around there. So, we want to highlight that not necessarily our lives a better, but they are different lives than what we would have had, but we have the added adoptional trauma.

Trauma for adoptees can definitely be like the sense of loss of identity because you look one way. Like for me, I look Guatemalan, but I have no recollection of that culture. I don't feel any connection to it. So, at times, I feel kind of discouraged from claiming that Guatemalan title because I don't really have a solid understanding of what it means to be Guatemalan because I was raised in a white family. Or it can be like even just having that, like, hole in your heart from being either placed or abandoned. Whereas most people see this adoption as a beautiful "rainbow" type thing. And we just want to highlight that not, that isn't the case with every adoptee; adoption can have all these many different sides and forms to it from different adoptee experiences.

Schellong: Carmen Campbell is an adoptee from Guatemala and heads the group, Together We Rise. Thanks, Carmen.

Campbell: Thank you, Megan.

This conversation has been edited for clarity and conciseness.

Megan Schellong hosted and produced Morning Edition on WKAR from 2021 to 2024.
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