((PKG))  ADOPTION 4 / ORIGINS 
((Banner:  Origins)) 
((Reporter:  Claire Morin-Gibourg))
((Camera:  Arzouma Kompaoré))  
((Map:  Seattle, Washington; Bellingham, Washington))  
 
((NATS)) 
((Maggie Bowton-Meade, Adoptee)) 
Part of my life is like a mystery to me.  One minute I was 
born and I was with one family and the next minute I was 
with a different one.  So, sometimes I can feel, like, why did 
this happen?  And I don’t know how it happened.  And I want 
some of those questions to be answered. 
((Angela Tucker, Adoptee, Post-Adoption Mentor)) 
What other question would help you feel, like, more 
complete if you knew the answer? 
((Maggie Bowton-Meade, Adoptee))  
Like, were you sad when you had to give me up?  
((Amy Bowton-Meade, Maggie’s Adoptive Mother)) 
Adopting a child of color has another layer of complexity and 
concerns about her well-being.  I have felt like I can’t be, I 
can’t do enough or be enough.  I can’t do it right or I’m not 
the right person for her.  Like, what was I thinking that I can 
do this?  How can I be so arrogant to think I could like, you 
know, fulfill this role for her?  
((Brett Bowton-Meade, Maggie’s Adoptive Father))  
I have come to understand more over the years that 
everyone is looking to figure out who they are.  It’s about, it’s 
about one’s identity and I think for adopted kids and 
particularly transracially adoptee kids, they have to 
continually work through their stories.
((Maggie Bowton-Meade, Adoptee)) 
My birthday always is hard for me. 
((Angela Tucker, Adoptee, Post-Adoption Mentor))  
It is?  You think about that?  
((Maggie Bowton-Meade, Adoptee))  
Yeah. 
((Angela Tucker, Adoptee, Post-Adoption Mentor))  
You think about what she is doing on this day?  
((Maggie Bowton-Meade, Adoptee))   
And then seven weeks later I feel even more sad because 
that was the day that I was adopted and the day that she 
couldn’t take care of me anymore, so, sometimes I just feel 
sad about that. 
((NATS)) 
((NATS:   Excerpts from documentary, “CLOSURE”))  
((Popup Banner:  Angela Tucker produced a documentary 
about searching for her biological parents))  
((Angela Tucker, Adoptee, Post-Adoption Mentor))  
Finding my birth mom has helped me feel more whole. 
((Deborah, Angela Tucker’s Birth Mother))  
To be with you is a joy.  That’s God's gift to me. 
((Angela Tucker, Adoptee, Post-Adoption Mentor))  
I’m middle class and she is not.  And so, I think that the 
conversations are uniquely difficult with that with, like, a love 
for each other, a serious connection but we live so 
differently.  
((Angela Tucker, Adoptee, Post-Adoption Mentor)) 
And then just seeing someone who looked just like me, my 
birth dad, that was crazy.  
((Teresa Burt, Angela Tucker’s Adoptive Mother)) 
It was hard for me to see it at first, because I felt like maybe 
meeting her birth mother would kind of replace me.  But 
Angela’s interest in it was so deep, became so deep that it 
helped me realize how important it was.  And so, I think that 
helped me change into, be part of it and to be excited about 
it.  And that was really freeing for me to be able to do that.
((David Burt, Angela Tucker’s Adoptive Father))  
I got the joy of raising her from 1 through college.  I couldn’t, 
I wasn’t going to lose anything.  I mean, you know, they’re 
their own people.  Children become their own people.  And 
because someone else may come into their life as an 
important person and should, that does not have any impact 
on my relationship. 
((Angela Tucker, Director of Post-Adoption Services, 
Amara))  
The most common thing I hear from white parents raising 
black kids is the fear that they won’t be able to raise their 
child to have a full, healthy, black identity. 
((Kristi Kilcher, Prospective Mother)) 
Yes, I feel like I’ve failed, and I don’t want to fail this child at 
all.  I want to be as good of a parent as I can be. 
((Teresa Burt, Angela Tucker’s Adoptive Mother))  
Yeah, I think the search has made her stronger.  After doing 
it, she can help others and is helping others with their 
searches.   
((Angela, with Maggie)) 
((Angela Tucker, Adoptee, Post-Adoption Mentor)) 
Do you think I feel sad, as an adult, having met my birth 
parents?  
((Maggie Bowton-Meade, Adoptee))   
Maybe not as much anymore?  
((Angela Tucker, Adoptee, Post-Adoption Mentor))  
I feel less confused but the fact that my birth mother couldn’t 
raise me is sad.  And it’s not going to change.