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When my first daughter was born we didn't have medical insurance. My in-laws gave us a heifer which we later sold to pay the medical bills. I am glad to report that after almost 40 years, our daughter does not appear to be traumatized by being paid for with a heifer. No, she wasn't adopted. But I think some children will embrace all aspects of their adoption story and some won't. I would guess if someone is upset because funds were raised to bring them into the family then they are probably struggling with adoption in general.

Lol! I thought "heifer" may have been a typo until I got further along in the sentence. That's awesome! While I respect the viewpoints of adoptees and am interested in hearing their points of view, I often wonder how much of what they feel and think has to do with being adopted and how much is due to positive or negatives experiences in their adoptive families, relationships with birth families and just their life experiences in general. What one adoptee may not think twice about may be very painful to another. We all walk on our own path.

I don't have a strong opinion about fundraising, but the one thing that bugs me about adoption financing and adds to the expense of it is the maternity policies of many companies, who classify maternity leave as a "medical condition of a woman who physically gave birth". If you adopt, you don't qualify so you must take unpaid leave to care for a newborn child. My company, and Jocelyn's company, both large employers on a national scale, have this policy.