Initial+Proposal

How does one being adopted affect one's family life? Does it make the child any less theirs? This topic is important to me on a more personal level being as though I am adopted from Russia. I am wishing to give someone a look into a world that is different from their own. Many children take for granted how special it is that they know their parents, and are of the same flesh and blood as the woman or man they know as mom or dad. Unfortunately not all can be so lucky. Every summer I spend a mont h with my aunt, uncle, and their two children, as we began to talk about how they were relatives of Martha Washington I said "wait, so that means I am related to Martha Washington?" To have my cousin Danielle reply, "no, we are, but you really aren't part of the family." Now of course I was not intending to question my blood relation but more my name association. But the remark my cousin said still bothers me. I am not positive on how I will go about my project but as of right now I am leaning towards one on one sessions with other adopted children in the school, having them answer certain questions and searching for any commonalities between them. I will need to know if their were studies already done on adopted children, and if there have been any findings that might point to whether or not adoption mentally alters someone when it comes to family life. I anticipate this project involving an open mind about how people view adoption, a fair amount of time for pulling together people on which to interview, the paper to write, and just overall keeping myself focused and on task. My mentor, along with topic expert will assist me by making sure I keep on my tasks, and they will also help me to come up with new and creative ideas on how to approach my topic, and tasks. Finally, the problems I foresee running into while completing my paper, project, and presentation will be knowing exactly what impression i wish to leave with my peers. I want them to walk away thinking that I really opened their minds to something they had not known much about, and then also to leave with an open mind about how the other lives.