November is National Adoption Month in which we remember the over 101,000 children waiting in foster care and hoping for placement with families.
Last night I had the privilege of screening Closure, a film by Bryan Tucker. Closure is a film about his wife Angela’s journey in searching and ultimately reuniting with her birthfather, birthmother and extended birth family. I sat in my local theater in Portland with a community of fellow adoptive parents, adoptees and birthparents to not only watch the film and learn from Angela’s experience but also to have a conversation with both Angela and Bryan afterward about her adoption journey. The questions asked and answered were profound and revealing about each experience in the adoption triad.
Angela was adopted from foster care in a closed adoption. The film touches upon some specific themes that may be significant to your journey:
- Adoptive Parent and Adoptee relationship
- Bio-adoptive sibling relationships
- Birthparent relationships
- Birth sibling relationships
- Adoptee search
- Reunification
Afterwards I spoke with Angela about some similar threads in her adoption experience and my daughter’s journey. Her insight and thoughtfulness both in the film and in person were helpful in processing some of the more difficult components of adoption. And, we talked briefly about her experience growing up in a Blended Family!
Me with Angela Tucker
I want to strongly encourage you to find a local screening near you and attend. I was fortunate enough to have the Tuckers attend our screening, but in the future they will only be at the Seattle and Minneapolis screenings. Find your local screening here.