West Michigan Adopted People's Group (Q&A)

Hello,

My name is Andrew Rienstra-Ehlers and a few years ago I founded an affinity group for adopted people called West Michigan Adopted People. We can be found on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/groups/WMIAP. If you are adopted, please consider joining the group! We are based in West Michigan but are planning to engage people virtually especially during this time.

As an adopted person, I am passionate about building community with other adoptees. I am also passionate about connecting with family members of adoptees and am open to sharing my story. My Dad and I thought we could do an anonymous Q&A time, so I have created a Google form that you can fill out if you have a question for an adopted person or adoptive parent. So ASK AWAY!

My Dad and I will be creating a video in which we answer your questions and will share it on the Facebook group. We also plan to create a follow up post here on The Network and share it. Again, here is the link to the Google form for your question. 

Here is a little of my story as an adopted person to help you think of any questions you may have! 

I am 31 years old. I was born in Costa Rica, and adopted at 6 months old with my biological sister and brother who were 4 and 5 years old. My parents are Caucasian and in their 50's. They were missionaries with World Missions for 10 years and so when they adopted us we lived in Costa Rica and they worked for 10 years after I was adopted. My parents never had or adopted anymore children. When I was 10 years old, we left the mission field and moved to the USA. It was not an open adoption and we didn't have much information about my birth family, just snippets—UNTIL social media. When I was 27 years old, we found a sibling of mine on Facebook and learned a lot about our story. Three years after finding my birth family on Facebook, my wife and I went and met them in Costa Rica on our honeymoon. That was an adventure and a post for a different day. I hope you write in a question!

If you want to connect with me directly, my email is [email protected].