Adoption: Caela's Story

Hi my name is Caela, I am 16 years old and I am from Auckland, New Zealand but moved to Tauranga about a year and a half ago.  I am adopted and would like to share my story, challenges and experiences that I’ve had to face over time. So here we go…My Mum and Dad had been struggling with infertility for 6 years and were not able to have a child naturally, which lead them to the long waiting list for IVF.  My Dad’s Mum (my Nana) knew a family who had a daughter (my biological mother) who was 17 and pregnant and was looking to adopt me out. There was a lot involved with this, papers to sign, legal checks and many more things to go through.  My parents were so happy to know that my biological mother decided to adopt me out to my parents I've got now.

After 9 months of sorting everything out and getting everything ready, I was born on 22nd October 2001.  My parents received the news that I was born and they were so happy and excited, then 2 weeks later my dad came to pick me up and take me home.  My dad once told that when he picked me up to take me home for the first time, he cried with tears of happiness.

In July 2002 my parents had a successful round of IVF and my Mum became pregnant with my younger sister who’s 14 years old, Grace was born on 11th April 2003, I now had a sister.

When I was growing up I was always told that I was adopted, but I wasn't sure what that meant as I was still too young at the time to understand, but as the years went on I started understanding more. I saw my birth mother and her family regularly, but I've never really met my birth father or his family.  Up to this day I still see my birth mother and her family at Christmas and on my birthday or sometimes when we are nearby and can catch up. But here come the struggles and challenges i've had with my adoption…

As I've grown up and been going to school I've always told people I was adopted and some get confused, some of them say “so you don't live with your parents” or “ you don't live with your real parents” and I say I do live with my parents just not my biological ones. I tell them the parents I have now are my parents because they’ve had me for as long as I can remember and they raised me, that’s what parents do.Another struggle can be Christmas with my adoptive family and when they compare my sister with my cousins and say that they have a lot in common such as art, as they are both super good at art.  I feel the odd one out sometimes because there’s no one to compare me with or have things in common with, we don't look alike either and that's the one things that can be hard when you are adopted.  I always say to myself,  “I have something much better than being compared to other family members, I have a good loving family that cares about me and loves me very much and I'm grateful for that.”But sometimes you’ll come across people who can be nasty and say things and think we weren’t planned and we weren’t wanted, but to me and my family I was planned, planned by God before I was even formed and I am so grateful that I am alive and that I wasn’t killed like some babies are.  I just want people in this world to know that we who are adopted are wanted, loved and planned, we may not be planned by our birth parents sometimes but we are planned by something bigger and that is Jesus Christ and there are families out there so so desperate for a child but options are being limited because so many unplanned pregnancies are being aborted.So for people out there who are thinking of abortion, please don't do it! Do the right thing. If you don't want to keep the baby, give it to someone who will nurture and love and care for that child, because no child should ever be killed or be called a mistake or have that word dangled over their head for the rest of their life. Adoption is a very very special thing and its precious to so many people, the gift they receive, is a precious little baby at the end of heartache and struggle.So please don’t have an abortion, abort the thoughtThank you for reading my story I hope you enjoyed it :)Love from Caela