Congratulations to the 2024 Holt Adoptee Scholarship Contest winners — Jayden Waggoner, Rosy Tate and Shaelynn Pelusio.
In 2024, we asked adoptees to submit a creative work responding to the prompt, “What is the one thing you want to tell parents starting the adoption process, and how would this advice have impacted your adoption journey?”
This topic was chosen by adoptee professionals who work on Holt’s post-adoption services team. They chose this prompt in order to offer adoptees creative freedom in a safe environment to tell their story and describe their adoption journey. We were moved and impressed by all of the adoptee submissions!
Adoption is a wonderful thing that is born from loss. The loss of birth family and culture needs to be grieved, and this can look different for every adoptee.
Rosy Tate was adopted from China and is now a student at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts. She hopes to use her higher education to become involved in the adoptee community and continue her adoption journey.
Here is an excerpt from her winning essay:
I encourage adoptive parents to be patient with their children as they navigate their adoption journey. For me, coming to terms with my adoption took some time. It was not until high school that I became willing to talk about my adoption openly. Moving to a diverse area certainly helped me realize the value of my Asian identity, while also pushing me to evaluate my adoptee identity. It is important to remember that adoption is traumatic. Adoption is a wonderful thing that is born from loss. The loss of birth family and culture needs to be grieved, and this can look different for every adoptee.
To sum it up, my main pieces of advice would be: try to incorporate birth culture into your adoptee’s life, be willing to talk about adoption, be educated on the implications of adoption, be willing to move to a diverse area, seek out the adoptee community, hold space for birth family and culture, and be patient with your adoptee.
Did you know Holt provides support to all adoptees?
Every adoptee has a unique and complex life experience. Holt strives to support all adoptees, regardless of their placing agency, by providing help with birth search, citizenship and more.
