UPSTATE NEW YORK --On the census form there is a question about
heritage. I was adopted, and later in life I found my birth mother by finding the doctor who delivered me from some paperwork my mother had kept. I found out that I looked just like my birth father.
It was really cool to really look like somebody. I know the burden of not looking like the family you grew up with.
So, I know how difficult this heritage question on the census can be. In three of my interviews when I asked, ''What is your origin/ethnicity?' the respondents answered, “I don’t know, I was adopted.”
I was able to tell them that the state of New York had opened its records in January, 2020, which meant an adoptee could order their original birth certificate (seemingly one of the few good things to come from 2020). The conversations were really intimate and always ran about 40 minutes.
It was so awesome; each time I got goosebumps.
---Stacey Shinske
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