Should you change your adopted child's name?

Children who are adopted have a deep need for a sense of connection. Adoption experts Drs. Brodzinsky and Schechter state in their best-selling book Being Adopted: The Lifelong Search for Self that an adoptee's need for connection can be compared to a starving man's need for food.

Because the adoptee's connection with the birth parents was severed at birth, or later, there is a deep need to feel a sense of connection to them. Should an adoptee's name be changed? Many adoption experts and therapists believe it should be preserved and honored. It is the link to the past portion of an adopted child's identity.

To wipe it out would be one more loss for the child. Changing an adopted child's name will likely cast an unfavorable light on the birth family, instead of honoring them and sends the message to the child that their past is something to be ashamed of, covered up or forgotten. Honor your child for who they are and cherish every bit of them by preserving who they are and who they were before they came to you.