Is It Me You're Looking For?

...

I soon found Dad in the lounge room filling paper work out and writing letters to the extended family, and decided it was the right time to pop the question. "Dad, can I ask you a question?" I said nervously, fiddling with my skirt. "Yes love, what's your problem?" he said, as if I did something wrong that I shouldn't have done. I took a deep breath and started from the beginning. “For our school assignment we had to write a biography from when we were an infant to an adolescent, so I came home knowing that there were numerous photos in the attic. I went up to the attic looked through every single one of those photos and found not one photo of me from when I was born. Why is this the case Dad, why? "Rae, come with me and sit down in the dining room," Dad replied. “Rae, this is a topic that your mother and I always have arguments about and never come to an agreement. When you were little you did not belong to us,” I looked at Dad confused. "What do you mean?" “We are not your biological parents, we have adopted you. Your mother is traditionally from a white family and in that generation, if you had two different races in your family your children would be taken from you.” Giving dad a puzzled glance, I had nothing to say, dropping my jaw and walking away.

Feeling uncertain that this could possibly be true, I ran to the telephone eagerly to find out. I dialled the information centre on 1366 and was transferred to the Golden Cradle Adoption Services. “Good evening, this is Joanna, how can I help you." “Hello, my name is Raeesah Gardner; I am 12 years old and I am just enquiring if you can provide me with information, whether I am an adopted child and to whom my biological mother is?”