Camp to Belong

I haven’t written about adoption since last August when Iris decided to end our contact.  I guess you could say that I’m “off” adoption these days.  With no contact with Liam’s Mom either, I needed to step away from adoption topics and let myself heal a little bit.

But adoption is still  a part of our lives every day (and always will be), whether I want to think about it or not. 

Just the other day Liam asked out of the blue if he looks like his older brother “C.”   I hate not being able to answer those questions for him, and it is one of the reasons I had really wanted his adoption to be open.   The best that I can answer is that I think he probably does.   The few photos we have seen of “C” from when he was younger have a  very remarkable resemblance to Liam.  In fact the similarities between “K” and all her children is uncanny.

I think for Liam one of the hardest parts of his adoption is knowing that he has siblings, but not being able to know them.  I’m sure that any child growing up as an only child has fantasies about having siblings to play with and have around.  I know that I did.  So for him it’s part fantasy but with a smidge of “what if” reality.

While I may be “off” adoption, I still follow a few blogs on the topic.  One of my current favorites is “Love is not Pie”, written by an adoptee who is also an adoptive mom who is a great advocate for open adoption.  She recently shared a video and link to a non-profit group called “Camp to Belong”

From their website:

CAMP TO BELONG, (CTB), an international non-profit 501 (c) (3) organization, has been actively reuniting brothers and sisters placed in separate foster, adoptive or kinship homes through Summer Camp Programs and year round events since 1995. Founded in Las Vegas by Lynn Price (biography), Camp To Belong Summer Camp was created to offer siblings in foster care and other out of home care the opportunity to create lifetime memories while reunited at camp.        

Siblings may not have the opportunity to read bedtime stories together at night, have breakfast together, cheer for each other at school functions or share precious holidays – all the things that typical siblings get to do each day. Siblings are often taken for granted. Yet, the sibling relationship can be our longest relationship in life.

What an amazing idea!  I can only imagine the joy Liam would have at the idea of being able to spend a week with his big brother!   Siblings are often a forgotten part of adoption.  Unfortunately since we don’t have contact with Liam’s Mom, I don’t see him ever being able to do something like this. 

But I can continue to wish and hope for him.