Students at FRHS share their stories

By: Pauline Verbest

Photo credit: Pauline Verbest

Adoption may seem like an experience only significant when someone is being adopted, but in reality, this event follows adoptees throughout their entire life.

Fossil Ridge High School senior Joy Stebbins, calls her adoption experience an event she has learned to grow from to help her understand people better.

“I feel I understand a lot more and being adopted has given me more experiences than a normal person;sometimes positive and sometimes negative,” she said.

According to Stebbins, she was found in a hospital dumpster as a baby and was taken to an orphanage where she stayed for three years until she was adopted by her current family. She found out about her adoption one year later, but did not think much of it until later in her life.

Within the past year, Stebbins has thought about her adoption often and has thought about going back to Vietnam, her birth place. Although she would like to know who her biological parents are, she is afraid of knowing why they “abandoned her.”

For some parents, adoption might be the only solution for unwanted pregnancy.

“I am not strong enough to do what [my birth mom did],” FRHS senior and adoptee Grace Klibbe said. “However, I support adoption and know a lot of people who wants kids but can’t [have them].”

Like Stebbins, Klibbe was adopted at a very young age. She has what is referred to as an “open adoption” and knows her biological parents well.

FRHS senior Brian DeWar has known Klibbe since second grade and is still close to her. When he heard the news about Klibbe’s adoption, he was shocked.

“I didn’t know how to react,” he said.

Klibbe simply describes her adoptive family as “a different form of normal.”

Friends aside, even family members can have issues with their adopted siblings. Stebbins has two brothers, one of which is also adopted, and she said that they have trouble empathizing with her because of her difference in background—and size. Stebbins was born with dwarfism, making her much shorter than her siblings. She uses her differences, however, to create a positive outlook on her own life.

FRHS senior Kennedie Raelennberg also knows the feeling of how hard it can be to connect with and befriend adopted siblings. Raelennber’s family took in a neighbor’s child temporarily after their mother was imprisoned. Since adoptees often come from a difficult past, Raelennberg agrees that it can be hard to understand and have a normal relationship with those people, especially when first being acquainted.

“Adoption may seem scary and unimportant at times,” she said, “but when you take the risk and accept somebody into your home, you realize how crucial it is for the precious lives involved.”

More     Info on Foster Care in Fort Collins

Larimer County in Fort     Collins has an adoption program where many kids are currently living at.

The website is labeled     bellow if you know anyone who is thinking about adopting or would like to     find out more about local foster care

http://www.larimer.org/fostercare/

Short     Documentary of how Teen overcomes and deals with his Adoption Video

Adoption can be a hard     experience that is different for everyone. Below is a video of a how a     teenager has coped and is still coping with his new adoptive family

http://www.cleanvideosearch.com/media/action/yt/watch?videoId=RCFQF0jnbls