Rescue the Fosters w/ Special Guest: Founder of Voices of Indian Adoptees - Winnie

Hi my name is Winnie. My birth name is Venkatamma! I'm adopted from India. When I was 2, I was adopted to the U.S. Before then I was in about 2 orphanages. I was adopted by a white Jewish couple. I grew up in the Washington D.C. area then moved to LA for a few years and now I'm back in my hometown. Growing up I always struggled fitting in and having friends. For me fitting in was a big deal because I wanted the feeling of being accepted and wanted. I've always struggled with abandonment issues, but I would say my number one trauma was not knowing who my birth mother was. My parents always introduced my culture to me and would do things to keep my culture as a part of me but I could never connect with it. I think because I was forced to call a white woman "mom" , it caused me to want to erase my identity and culture. The moment I fully understood what my adoption meant, it caused everything to change. All I cared about was trying to find a woman that not only gave birth to me but was my race. As I got older I began to start my search. Now that I'm in my thirties, I've gone back and forth if I want to proceed. Lately I've been learning about the caste systems in my country and that has caused me to have a fear of continuing. Many people don't understand that many international adoptions, in many cases the birth mother doesn't have a choice but to put their child up to an orphanage. A lot of cases it's poverty, but it's also because of no support from the family, cultural beliefs, and laws in the country. To know that I may not be allowed to look for my mother has been a traumatizing and a major struggle that I've been dealing with for the past couple of years. You always hear about the good side of adoption. You never hear about the trauma the adoptee faces and the battles we have to fight everyday just to survive. That needs to change and now is our time to get voices back! Adoptees are perceived as ungrateful. Adoptees are the strongest people that I know! We're not ungrateful....we're survivors!

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