Whodey, I have a good girlfriend who has tried to get in touch with her birth mother 2-3 times. The last time she tried she was told that it was the last time legally that she could try to do it. Her birth mother refused to meet her. It really threw her into a short term depression. My uncle just met his sister's son who was given up by her for adoption. (forced by her stauch protestant parents) Ironically, he lived about 50 minutes from us when we lived in another state for 9 years. He looks exactly like my uncle's sister. My f-i-l always blamed his alcoholism on the fact that his father abandoned he and his mother when he was a toddler. He spent a lot of time searching up information about his father and his father's family. Adoption is a very real, multi-faceted issue that affects many, many people in all different ways. I wouldn't minimize this at all!