Adoption Storylines: When They Hit a Nerve

I’m reading a book in a series about two private investigators. In this installment, the youngest son of a Lady is seriously ill and needs a kidney transplant. None of the family is a match, so the Lady hires the investigators to track down the son she relinquished for adoption at sixteen, in the hope of asking him to donate a kidney to save her other child.

There are only two reasons I’m sticking with it: it’s the sixth book in the series, and I’m still holding out hope that the story line might somehow redeem itself.

As an adoptee, I can’t help imagining how I would have felt if my birth mother suddenly appeared purely to request an organ donation for one of the children she raised. While donating a kidney is an enormous, life-altering decision, I can see how I might have been tempted to agree if it meant finally being seen, valued or accepted by my birth family. At the same time, there would be that other painful voice suggesting I was being treated like a spare parts cupboard for a child who was kept.

Ironically, one of the private investigators in the book is adopted herself and has recently reconnected with her birth mother. You’d think that experience might make her more sensitive to the adoptee in this situation. Instead, her perspective leans strongly towards the son who needs the transplant. When the adopted son’s wife asks whether the ‘family member’ would offer financial support, the investigator is stunned. At this point, I can’t help feeling the author is out of her depth with the realities of adoption. I’m giving serious thought to emailing her to politely share my thoughts.

If you’ve ever had a moment in a book, film, or conversation that hit a nerve around adoption, I’d love to hear your experience. Stories shape understanding, and your voice can help bring more nuance, compassion and truth into the way adoption is portrayed.