How many APs/PAPs have watched "Girl, Adopted"?
Until Oct 29, there is a fantastic film documenting the adoption experience, as seen through the eyes of a young teen's point of view.
On worldchannel.org, the 1 hour 19 min film is described as:
Girl, Adopted is a contemporary coming-of-age story that follows Weynsht, a 13-year-old Ethiopian girl, from an orphanage in Africa to an adoptive American family in rural Arkansas. An irrepressible adolescent, Weynsht searches for identity in an effort to find out who she is in the aftermath of her adoption. The film follows her struggle for love among strangers and to understand what to make of this love on an unexpected return trip to Ethiopia.
Weynsht’s story offers a rare, child’s-eye view of being adopted across race and culture. Taking neither a pro- or anti-adoption stance, the film acknowledges the complexities involved and gives a real voice to the experience. The central question that Girl, Adopted asks is, "What is it like to get everything you need but to lose everything you know?"[From: http://worldchannel.org/programs/episode/girl-adopted/ ]
On the official website, the video description is as follows:
When 13 year old Weynshet leaves her orphanage in Ethiopia with her new American parents, she believes all her prayers have been answered. But in gaining a family, she must leave behind everything she has ever known. Spanning four years in the life of one irrepressible girl, the film offers an intimate look at the struggle to create an identity in the aftermath of adoption across race and culture.
The official link can be found here: http://video.pbs.org/video/2365084296/
Since the video will expire on Oct 30, 2013, I strongly urge any adoptive parent or prospective adoptive parent to watch this film, especially if the adoption involves an older child from a foreign country where self-identity is not questioned until the honeymoon-phase of the adoption process is over, and the child finds herself living the disappointment that comes with living an average life in an average American home.
If for nothing else, APs and PAPs need to see the scene where Weynsht is in complete sensory over-load when she is "welcomed home", and when she looks around and at herself and states, "I love being Ethiopian, but I hate being black (in America)".