Families are Conditional: This is what I shared with the senators in DC on Tuesday.

Show Photo # 1+2: Me

This is me when I was 3. Wasn’t I so cute?.

And this is my younger sister.

Wow….both of us are so precious.

Show Photo # 3:

 

Our parents dressed us as twins because we were so close in age.

She received American Citizenship and I did not.

I am not a US Citizen.

Show Photo # 4:

All three of us were born in Haiti

I was legally adopted in 1990

Show Photo # 5:

When my father asked about my citizenship, he was told that in order for me to be a US citizen, they had to move to the US. They refused. Leaving me without their citizenship but with their last name.

Show final Photo:

But my siblings lived with us and we were all born overseas. Our parents never moved to the US.

They received two citizenships, Haitian and also American.

My siblings became Citizens because they are their biological children.

But am I not as important as they are?

 

I asked my father why he didn’t take the last step and he admitted that I was not a priority to him, to his wife. He said that he thought a visa was sufficient.

 

Through my father I learned that I was not equal. Adoptees live their entire lives trying to appease their parents, trying to show them that they are “thankful” for being rescued. But I realized that my parents never considered me to be one of them, they never found me as important as their biological children.

 

But the US should not have allowed them to make a promise of that magnitude. The US should have facilitated the process, instead they created a requirement that some found too difficult to bear. My parents should have been interviewed about this in the first place.

 

So why am I here?

I want to know what family really means? Adoptees grow up, they become adults and have children of their own.

Early on we are taught that families are forever.

Everyone in the family should have the same rights.

 

If you support the bill, it will open up possibilities for adult adoptees everywhere.

 

Right now, we are being told that Family is conditional.

 

If my parents were allowed to adopt me, I should be allowed to share their citizenship.

 

Will you support us and this bill?