If the system were designed to protect adoptees, why do so many have to fight for their rights?

— DaShanne Stokes

Discovering that I was adopted redefined my entire world, but it taught me that who you are doesn't change.

— DaShanne Stokes

Adoptees deserve open records because deception and partial truths do not set us free.

— DaShanne Stokes

Adoption is a lifelong journey. It means different things to me at different times. Sometimes it is just a part of who I am. Other times it is something I am actively going through.

— Kelly DiBenedetto

Adoptee rights are everyone's rights, and they deserve to be protected.

— DaShanne Stokes

Blood can help make family, but family often transcends blood.

— DaShanne Stokes

The life of an adoptee is like an ancient voyager who searches for the unknown. The stars guided their destiny. They had their sights on the wonders that lay ahead of them. An adoptee travels in the opposite direction.

— Diamond Mike Watson

Adoption isn't just a childhood experience, it's a life-long experience.

— DaShanne Stokes

Being denied their original birth certificates isn't just a problem for adoptees. It's a social problem, requiring social change.

— DaShanne Stokes

The wrinkled pages of the Bible crackled as Mom leafed back to the beginning of Matthew. I had always felt I was conceived from the powers of the universe. Maybe I was chosen to fulfill a divine mission.

— Diamond Mike Watson