The Adoptee Dialogue
The Purpose of the Blog
The purpose of this site is to give adult adoptees an avenue for support that is dedicated to their thoughts and opinions. We frequently hear from the professionals, the adoptive parent who is looking for answers and adoptee-turned-author, but we rarely hear from the adoptees who seemed to have dissolved into the general population. These people have taken on the duties and tasks of responsible adults; often the only way one knows that there is something different about them is if they say, “Well, you know, I was adopted.” Yet, adult adoptees still may suffer from a long-term undiagnosed depression from feelings of alienation and not belonging, loss and hidden grief. While many people seek peace of mind, the adult adoptee seeks peace of mind and the heart. Information and self-help are key to a true resolution.
All visitors to this website are welcome to participate in the blog. Perhaps we have a friend or relative who is being adopted, was adopted, is a potential adoptive parent, or is an adoptive parents faced with difficulty. Birth mothers and fathers are also invited.
Meet the Author
Marita Malone was born in Germany just after the end of World War II and lived in a German orphanage for a couple of years. She was adopted by American parents and brought to the United States. She received undergraduate degrees in sociology and English, followed by a Master’s in Business Administration and a Ph.D. in Public Administration.
As a retired FBI special agent and former academician at the secondary level and at major universities, she has published several criminal justice, management, conflict management, and security management articles and a related book on change management. She has traveled internationally presenting to law enforcement agencies.
Regardless of her apparent achievements, she defines success differently. Her definition is having acquired a feeling of value and belonging. She took a lifetime searching for this meaning of success and a longer time arriving at it. Not until she was 59 years old was she introduced to her birth mother’s and father’s families in Germany. Not until after then did she feel successful. Not until then did she write the memoir My Mother My Daughter.
