Fwd: Hon vill ge adopterade en röst

-------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Arun Dohle < arundohle@gmail.com >
Date: Mon, May 22, 2017 at 8:41 PM
Subject: She wants to give adoptees a voice
To: < roelie.post@gmail.com >
 

NEWS.

2017-05-15 12:00

Two years ago, Christina Rhedin started the association ARV, Adopted Resource Center West.

Image: Maria Steén

She wants to give adoptees a voice

With the association ARV, Christina Rhedin wants to give adoptees a voice that has been missing in the debate and be a meeting place where experiences of growing up and living as an adoptee can be shared.

“I have missed a group that highlights our issues,” she says.

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Two years ago, Christina Rhedin started the association ARV, Adopted Resource Center West.

– The aim is partly for us to be a forum for adoptees to meet and exchange experiences, but also to convey our experiences to society, officials and institutions. There are large knowledge gaps about adoptees, says Christina Rhedin.

– When I graduated from the social work program, adoption had not been mentioned during the training. In my work, I have often encountered social workers and counselors who don't really know how to treat adoptees. I want to change that, she continues.

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Skin color matters

Christina Rhedin was adopted to Sweden and Floda outside Gothenburg from Chennai in southern India in the 1970s. A decade when adoption became common. A few years later, many Swedish school classes had one or two adopted students. The Swedish-born children were taught that there was nothing strange at all and that the adoptees were just as Swedish as they were.

– I myself was taught that skin color doesn't matter and not to talk in terms like white and black. It's only now as an adult that I've been able to start doing that and only now that I understand why I never liked singing the gingerbread man song or baking nigger balls as a child, says Christina Rhedin.

– Skin color plays a role in a society where the norm is white. It's hard to be different, and being different while growing up has stayed with me my whole life.

It is the first time since the first large adoption generation reached middle age that there has been literature critical of adoption. Research shows that adoptees have lower average incomes, lower education and are less likely to start a family than Swedish-born people.

This is particularly striking because class and social position are often inherited and adoptees largely come from socioeconomically strong families in the middle class and above.

Mental illness and suicide

Statistics also show that adoptees are overrepresented in figures relating to mental illness and suicide.

– I myself feel that I have had a pretty tough time and have had to go to therapy. It can create self-hatred to grow up in a white, Swedish area, to have a Swedish perspective on the surroundings and to be culturally very Swedish in your way but still never be able to blend in and belong there in terms of appearance, says Christina Rhedin.

– As an adopted person, you can walk around feeling Swedish and then the fact that you don't look Swedish suddenly and unexpectedly hits you. An example is when I spoke to someone on the phone. Once I was looking for an apartment and when I got there I got "But, but I spoke to someone named Christina on the phone..."

In retrospect, Christina Rhedin has noted that she missed a forum where she could exchange experiences with others who share them. A not uncommon attitude towards adoptees with problems is that they have, after all, become much better off thanks to being allowed to come to Sweden.

Although this is often not untrue, it is not a reason to ignore the problems that exist.

– Adoptive parents are a strong group and there is a fear there of criticizing adoption. Both from the parents and some adoptees. That is not the purpose of the association. We need a group that stands up for our issues, says Christina Rhedin.

One such question is the Return Journey. As an adopted person, going back to your country of origin and searching for your roots.

She has first-hand experience of how important and rewarding such a journey can be. At the age of 27, and partly as a result of her therapy, she traveled back to India.

– The first few weeks were terrible. I just felt like I had to go home. I stood out there because I am Western both in my appearance and in my clothing, she says.

– But I was lucky. I got a tip about a mountain village a little outside Chennai where I was born. There I met a Danish family with nine adopted Indian girls with whom I got along well. I also came into real contact with Indian culture, learned to wear a sari and was able to meet Indian people in a rewarding way. All of that was very important to me, she continues.

Far from all adoptees are interested in making a return trip, but for those who are at least considering it, Christina Rhedin hopes that ARV can be a forum to provide guidance on how such a trip can be successful.

– I have experiences that I am happy to share to help others and I feel myself being helped by sharing the experiences of other adoptees.

In the future, ARV will develop into more than just a discussion group that organizes lectures and film screenings. Christina Rhedin hopes that the association will become an interest organization that seriously promotes the issues of adoptees.

– There are grants available for couples who want to adopt, but so far no grants for adoptees who want to make their return journey. That is an issue the association wants to pursue, she says.

http://goteborg.etc.se/inrikes/hon-vill-ge-adopterade-en-rost