Adoptee Story: Kevin Barnett

November 10, 2020

Adoptee Story:

Kevin, born in the United States, adopted in the United States

INTRO: Fellow adoptee Kevin shares with us, his adoptee story, in his own words. He talks about the loss of identity and loss of time once he reunited with his first family…

“I was born Kevin Hodge on 30 Jul 1960. My mother gave me up for adoption right after birth. I was in the foster care system until my teenage years. Those years were very rough for me. Abuse had its way, I mean mental, verbal, sexual and physical abuse.

I wound up being adopted by my last foster care family the Barnetts which is the last name I carry. I lost my identity when I was born and now that I had a different surname, it further that feel of not knowing who I was. I’m very grateful for the Barnett family for taking me in and showing me how to become somebody. In the late 80s I joined the Army to get more confidence in myself. I was always wanted to know who I was, where did I come from, who I really looked like and so on. I thought the Army would give me that confidence and also give me the courage to start my search.

I would find my biological family at the age of 56. I missed so much, one of my brothers and my bio father had already passed way. I was about to spend about 3 years with my bio mother before she passed. Since 2016, my life has been up and down with so many emotions. I will never get those years back, however I’m lucky in some ways and unlucky in many ways thus the emotions. I’ve tried to express those emotions in my two books that I’ve written and also on my podcast.

We Are Strong!

Kevin B.”

Kevin is the author of the books in the image above. He is also the founder of the podcast “Let’s talk about fostercare and adoption”.

Please, find the links below to find out more about Kevin’s work in the adoptee community, and to connect with him.

Podcast

Instagram

Youtube

Facebook

Books

Website

Amanda Medina

I was adopted from Medellin, Colombia to Sweden in 1985. I was about a year and a half when I started my life as an adoptee, and it would take 32 years until I was ready to face what that means, what that has always meant, and what that will always mean.