Become anything you want, but most of all, become yourself.
Children being rescued from pitiful circumstances and living happily ever after in a loving new family. It is the romanticized narrative about adoption that people would like to believe. But what is it really like?
"My name is Sam, born in Sri Lanka, adopted and raised in the Netherlands. In this story I will tell you what it was like for me to be taken from my own mother and being a brown girl growing up in a white adoptive family that provided me with a far-from-safe environment. Sexually abused by my adoptive father, I was turned out of the house by him at the age of seventeen en left to fend for myself.
But I'm a fighter. Finding out that my records were falsified, that my birthday wasn't even my birthdate, only sparked my resolve to find justice. Together with fifteen other Dutch adoptees, I am suing the Dutch government for adoption fraud and child trafficking.
Sure, I may have been dealt a bad hand, but this is a story of resilience. I've turned the loneliness I've experienced into my strength. My yearning for connection is at the root of the successful business I set up, focusing on connecting people. But in the end, on the most important journey so far, searching for my real family and searching for myself, I am proud to say that I have found both!"
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Published in October 2022 | Paperback | 280 pages | ca. 70,000 words
English sample translation available 