Finding my place in the world is very challenging. ".
Mimi Woods, a three-year-old from Ammanford, Carmarthenshire, was adopted from Thailand.
She has battled issues of identity and belonging over the years, but she wanted others to know they weren't alone in these struggles.
Adoption is a "taboo subject," according to the 22-year-old, and it "needs to be talked about more.".
A bilingual podcast episode about the experiences of nine adopted people between the ages of 13 and 26 has been produced by Mimi and other young Welsh adoptees.
Mimi admitted to having mental health issues in the past, but that talking to "people who understand what I'm going through" and participating in the podcast gave her the chance to "help other people" were both very helpful.
Mimi struggled greatly with her identity after moving from Thailand to Wales and having to adjust to a different culture.
"I would consider myself to be Asian, and I have many ties to both my culture and Wales because I adore everything about it. football, cawl (stew or soup). all of that.
You can tell I'm not Welsh when you look at me. Nevertheless, I am bilingual. It's really hard to know where I fit in, but I most definitely feel at home in these communities [of adoptees]. ".
In the podcast, it was discussed how to dispel widespread myths about adoption.
People mistakenly believe that adopted people are "these 'challenged' children who grow up with no jobs and no purpose in life, but that's really not the case," she claimed.
Despite the fact that I experienced a great deal of trauma in my early years of life, my friends and family support me and see me as unique.
To better support adoptees and let them know they are not alone, Mimi thinks that people need to be educated.
Ellie-Rose Griffiths from Cardiff said, "I would have loved to have heard other people's stories growing up.". .
The adoptees' interaction with one another during the podcast's recording, according to the 22-year-old, made her feel "understood.".
Having such "amazing adoptive parents who are my parents," the student paramedic said she felt incredibly fortunate. They are what I would refer to them as.
In order for people to learn more about adoption, she now wants to inspire other adoptees to share their experiences.
Ruth Letten, manager of Connected, an Adoption UK service for children and young people, said, "Once they started talking about their experiences and were there together supporting each other, you couldn't stop them.".
In order to "legitimize how they feel and to help them understand that they are not on their own," Ruth said that it was crucial for adopted people to share their experiences.
According to her, adoption has undergone significant change over the years, moving past a lack of support as adopted children grew into adults.
According to Ruth, contemporary adoption is about "putting the child and young person at the center of everything.".
"So instead of just assuming we know what's best, it's important to make sure we are listening to them and actively acting on their opinions and what they feel is important. ".
In order to help adoptees "understand their story, so it can become integrally part of who they are," adoption agencies are now providing them with information such as life story books.
For many of the young people, the youth worker claimed, it was an opportunity "to shape and change things and to put things in place for younger adoptees."
