My name is Sheri Sexton. I was told my whole life that I
was adopted. I was told how lucky that I was to have been
adopted, although I didn't feel lucky at all. I always knew
somehow that my mother had loved me and that if she could
have, she would have kept me. So I never felt anger towards
her.
My adoptive parents were eventually able to have children
of their own, and my role in the family unit changed dramatically.
I was no longer their "real child", a term that
I came to dread.
My childhood was not one of happiness, bicycles and barbies,
but I did overcome my challenges. I would daydream on the
way home from school about what it would be like to get
home and find my real mother sitting there waiting for me.
Birthdays were always particularily hard for me as I was
constantly missing my mom around that time, to celebrate
felt wrong. This had been the time that I had been taken
from my mother, why would I want to have a party? I grew
up feeling lost, lonely, and confused. I always felt that
I should just be greatful to my adopters no matter what
they dealt me and as a result I let people walk all over
me because I was afraid of rejection. The only person that
I really felt close to as a child was my adoptive father
and he died when I was 12. After that, I came to believe
that everyone that I would ever love, I would loose.
So, many years later, after keeping my heart closed, my
daughter was born. It was like the sky opened up and for
the first time the sun was shining. I felt total unconditional
love! It scared me, but it felt so good. After my children
were born, I finally comitted to finding my mother. It's
a miracle that we even found each other since everything
that I had ever been told was a lie, but we found each other
anyway. I was overwhelmed to find that my parents were married
and that I had two brothers. My mother had been lied to,
bullied, and taken advantage of in the worst ways. The doctor
that delivered me had taken me from her with the help of
his lawyer son, and gave me to his nurses daughter (we have
reason to believe a fee was paid, but we will probably never
be able to prove it). Years have past and we have found
that there was no adoption, all of my legal documents are
fraudulent and I can't get a pass port in my own country.
Many people knew what was going on and did nothing. I even
had been lied to about my birth date. We are fighting the
injustice that was done to us and we are determined to see
it through. We have a great deal of documented evidence
that we have been lucky to acquire.
I need to say though, that finding my family was one of
the best things to ever happen to me! Suddenly, I had this
self worth that I had never had, after all, I came from
great people! My entire life changed as a result. Genetics
are a powerful thing, and ten years later, you would never
know that we haven't always been together. The respect that
we all have for one another is wonderful!
I was a black market adoptee, but the lies don't belong
to me, and I won't carry them anymore. "The best interest
of the child" was definitely not considered by the
people responsible for seperating us.
