'Mementoes' from first parents...?

Jennifer L

We have pictures taken on the day we met our children's mother. A picture of her with them hangs on our wall with the rest of our family photos. We also sent her copies of the photo.

My daughter looks exactly like her.

Opedial

My children came with lifebooks from there foster care providers, and some items from their childhood. I made sure to also meet with the First mom to get some baby pictures, and arrange how we woudl share information. (she cannot have identifying informaiton for safety and other risks)

The pictures the kids love and it fills that hole. When we share pictures with their first mom, she said she would like pictures of them with us, so she can see the whole picture. So when we exchange info, I give her things and she gives up a bit more informaiton. EVery little bit helps.

racheypoo

As an adoptee: I had nothing from my first mother, until we met. Now I have pictures of her when she was pregnant, as well as a photo, framed of my extended first family. Neat.

As an adoptive parent: When my daughter arrived, she had nothing. I was able to get some photos and things via the social worker later on. If ever her fm is healthy enough to be around us, I hope we can have more of her than just some photos.

Faith K

q 1: yes. my birthmom made me a necklace. and a blanket, and i still have both.

q 2: yet. i knitted him an elephant, and the adoptive parents always send pics with him cuddling next to it. i also wrote a letter, knitted him a blanket, and gave him some of his ultrasounds, and made him a book.

also, the adoptive parents gave me a teddy bear from build-a-bear, and they bought the asme one for him, and then you push on his heart, you can feel the pulse.

kateiskate is getting married

I wish I had something from my natural parents. I would treasure it.

Heather ~ Not a Perfect Mom ~

Drew did not receive anything materialistic from his first parents, but he has his Mothers smile and his father's beautiful eyes. I never realized how much he looked like his father until he reunited with his older brother. They both have the most beautiful piercing eyes. Drew's are green and his brother's are blue... but they are the same eyes.

We also figured that he got his athletic talents from his dad. Two of his older brothers excelled at basketball and football and a sister did very well at track. All three of these are sports that Drew plays and does very well. He just found out that he is going to be the QB for the JV teem this year!! I'm very proud of him and know that it is something he inherited from his father.

I also have a few pictures of Drew and his father together when he was a baby. I offered to give them to him after his father passed away, but he did not want them. I told him to let me know if he changed his mind. He does have pictures of his extended bio family that he has framed in his room.

Traylee

The only thing my daughter's first mom gave her (other than life, of course) is her name. We also have a pacifier that I talked the orphanage into letting us have...it was the one my daughter was particularly attached to when I adopted her. Her name and a pacifier are the only things she brought home with her when I adopted her.

Erin L

My daughter has pictures with and of her first family that at 3 she already loves to look at. In one picture, her first mother is wearing a hat. Dd runs and puts on a hat every time she sees it so that she's wearing a hat like her MaMa. :)) She also has a neclace her first mother gave her to wish her a lucky life.

LinnyG

Nada. Nothing. Zero, zip. Like Laurel, I was born in 1965. That wasn't done. Some first Mothers from that era did give a few things to the agency for their child to have, but it was rare for those things to go anywhere but the social workers garbage can.

I did get my first Mom's face and talents, though. Im her "mini-me".

Cambria

I got a pair of baby booties. I don't know exactly where they are. Partially because we recently moved and I don't know where much of anything is and partially because although they are important to me and I am glad I have them, they aren't so important that I have to have them in a special place or look at them all the time. I don't know why that is. It seems like I should care more about them, but I just don't really.

Flaming June

My First Mom made a baby quilt. Pink on one side, blue on the other. She sewed animals on the pink side. I came before she finished it.

EDIT: ARE PEOPLE REALLY GIVING THUMBS DOWN FOR ITEMS WE HAVE RECEIVED AND GIVEN? That's pretty sad...

Lady Rowan

I have a little shirt with my name on it that my first mother gave to me when i was 20. its a little yellowed, and i found out only recently that its the shirt i was brought home in. Just the thought that shes kept it all thiese years really makes me so happy.

Its a smurfs t shirt.

Kelsey

Stuffed Rabbit, sixteen years later he's still (mostly) in one piece

Anha S

After reunion, my first mom gave me the baby spoon that she and my dad had engraved for me, in the original envelope, she said she'd wanted me to know the first place I had ever lived. She also gave me a letter that she wrote some time after my relinquishment. The letter is kept on the bookshelf in my bedroom, and the spoon is squirreled away in my keepsake trunk. She kept these things to give to me because she had a feeling I wouldn't have gotten them otherwise.

I read the letter from time to time. The spoon I haven't looked at in awhile. But I'm glad I have both.

Krista R

In reunion a year and a half ago, I received a locket with her initial on the front. The two pictures inside were me in the hospital nursery and my father in high school. That locket stayed in my pocket for many months after receiving it. Since then, I have received pictures and many family heirlooms that I cherish deeply.

Melissa Swan

I also had a book of photos of all the relatives. At the top of each page would be a title eg "Grandma", then a photo of the person, then underneath their real name "Mary O'Neill".

CDraBella

Though I don't know, and my son doesn't know, whatever happened to them, my son went home with the pair of pajamas I picked out for him and a baby blanket my husband's grandmother knitted for him.

My husband and I also, when our new baseball park opened here about fifteen years ago, had three baseballs signed by the players. One for each of our sons, including our oldest. His aparents did give him the baseball but unfortunately told him that it was a gift from his a-uncle.

Andraya - Snark's Sister

After reunion my mom gave me my grandmother's engagement ring, she had an identical ring made for my sister. I wear it often.

I'm not sure if my son has anything from me but I have his favourite stuffed animal to give back to him once we are reunited.

Mom to Foster Children

Yes! On their last visit he came home with droves of things from clothes / toys / pictures / a replica of his dad's favorite car / a jacket of his mothers...etc! The pictures are in a photo album that he keeps in his toy room along with all of the other stuff. There are certain things that they gave to him that I keep up on a shelf in a box - things like a bracelet / cards / letters...etc.

Serenity71

We have a few momento's given to my girls. Things like a bracelet, toys and a personal book made by them with pictures of biological related relatives. The book is great, we can bring it out anytime and they'll have a good idea of who is who in it. Its the gift I like over anything else. Very personal. Better than a toy I feel. but then I'm a sentimental person. We're making a book in return...Called..."What we did this year" Mainly pictures and few words relating to the things we went to, places we visited...it might even start a tradition between us. I don't have a problem doing it, as I'm also making a copy for my daughters too so they know what they did in their childhood, including pictures from our visits with their first family.

Me and their first mum both like to give gifts, and make personal things ourselves. Its something I do have in common with her so I know the books will mean a lot to her.

Laurel J

I don't have anything like that. It wasn't done when I was born (1965).

VerdeLuz

I think your questions are really good and I will be very interested in finding out what adoptees will write. In my case, I was given by my daughter's first family the rocking chair that they had for 4 generations. Also, the birth mother is very talented and she has made a nice painting with flowers and bought for her the 1st bear. All things I have placed in my daughter's room. In specials holidays, the first parents have given me sealed cards that they want me to give her when she's older. My daughter is only 7 months, but I honored and I will keep everything that they give her because I believe that it will make her so so happy when she gets older to know that her first family love her and always thought of her.

H******

My mother's eyes and smile.

I'm taking an extra suitcase to the States with me next week for our reunion; she has a lifetime of mementoes and family heirlooms she wants me to bring back!

I still have a little yellow outfit that I came to my adoptive parents' home in. Must've been from the foster parents, whoever they were. State won't even tell me who they were either :(

å°é»ƒ

I have a few family pictures that were taken at the time of my adoption finalization. The pictures consist of me, my father, my mother and my brother.

When I first saw their pictures, I kept them by my bed table every night. It was so nice to finally see myself being reflected in someone else.

A few weeks after that, my a-parents scanned one of the best pictures in the packet, enlarged it, and fit it into a photo frame just above my dresser.

It was/is so precious.

Now that I've seen more family pictures in Taipei, the pictures mean even more to me.

SLY

While I was in the Home, I made 2 sock monkeys, one for my sister, and one for my son. My son and I have been reunited for 19 years. About 4 years ago, he mentioned that the foster parents he had before he was adopted (he was kept in foster care for 6 months, as I didn't sign the surrender doc) had made him a sock monkey and he still had it. I told him that the foster family hadn't made it for him; I did. His AP's thought that it had come from them, so they allowed him to keep it. I had also made him blankets, a layette, and other things that they discarded, but the sock monkey survived because they didn't know it came from me.

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