Empowering the Adoptee Voice Takes Unexpected Turn for Sherrie Eldridge

Sept. 28, 2010 - PRLog -- Sixty five years ago, a tiny baby was placed in the arms of her adoptive parents setting the stage for what was to come.  Adoptee, daughter, mother, wife, grandmother, advocate, educator, author, Angel in Adoption--Sherrie Eldridge has used many words to describe who she is but adoption has always figured prominently in her life.  Her first book Twenty Things Adoptees Wish Their Adoptive Parents Knew was transformative in the adoption community. With each successive book and each room of people she has spoken to, her passion for empowering the adoptee voice and educating others about adoption has grown and truly become her life's work.

In 2007, Sherrie saw the dream of having her first chiidren's book published to help empower the voices of adopted children in understanding who they are and where they fit.  Forever Fingerprints, An Amazing Discovery for Adopted Childrenhttp://www.emkpress.com/fingerprint.html uses a child's fingerprints to create a connection between adoptee and birth or first parents since they are formed in the womb as the baby is growing.  It also is a book that articulates a number of questions, thoughts, and feelings that an adoptee often holds in their hearts and don't always share with those around them.  The book has helped countless families open discussion about adoption and birth relatives.  But sometimes, unexpected dividends come from unexpected places.

Rebecca Vahle, the Adoption Liaison at Parker Adventist Hospital in Colorado http://www.parkerhospital.org/adoptionsupport?parent_id=1835, was looking for a tool to help a special kind of family coming through the birthing unit at the hospital she worked at.  Pregnant women who had made the decision to place their child for adoption, their extended families, and new adoptive families were not always understood by the nurses and staff at this emotional time for all involved.  Education, support, and creating a keepsake for the birth mother and child seemed like something that would be helpful for all involved.  

"We have spent the last five years creating the Family to Family Adoption Support Program and Forever Fingerprints has become an essential part of our hospital placements!  The fingerprint sheets created with newborns and parents offer not only a keepsake, but serve as a reminder that all of those involved will be forever impacted by choices made during this time.  It will continue to be a part of our family support in the years to come and I know the fingerprint sheets will be treasured by all involved," commented Vahle.

"When I wrote my children's book I had no idea it would be used to connect birth parents and children in this wonderful way," observed Sherrie Eldridge, who did not have any tangible keepsakes or reminders from her birth family since her adoption was closed which was common practice when she was adopted. "I wish that this had been something available to my parents sixty-five years ago!"

The Forever Fingerprint ceremony and keepsake is simple and flexible to enable each birth family the opportunity to make the memory one that is fitting and appropriate to their particular situation.  This can include a reading of the book Forever Fingerprints, the placing of fingerprints from mother and baby on some simple decorated sheets, special music and reflection of the emotions of the moment.  Ideas for structuring a ceremony have been developed by Eldridge and can be found on her website http://www.sherrieeldridge.com/adoption_ceremony.cfm.  The ceremony and fingerprint sheets are free to download and print.

"What an amazing experience... to witness my first fingerprinting of a precious baby and her birthmother......this sweet baby was not able to go home [from the hospital] right away, but with the unexpected often comes blessing. For ten days, her birth mother and her adoptive dad and mom were able to care for her, often side-by-side," remarked Vahle. "It was the ideal situation to offer them the Forever Fingerprints keepsake ceremony. They loved the idea, and while those tiny hands were awfully hard to open, the birth mother and daughter completed the fingerprint cards. We added a baby footprint at the bottom of each certificate and color photo copied the final results for additional keepsakes. Through tears, the birth mother thanked me. She told me about the box she had been decorating to hold such mementos. She said, “These cards will forever show that I love her and that I was here, that I was real.” It was a moment I will not soon forget."

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EMK Press is a publisher of books and information for adoptive families, adoptees, foster parents, foster children, birth families, and the professionals who work with them.