DAVENPORT, Iowa — November is National Adoption Month and one St. Ambrose University student is sharing his experience growing up in a country he was not born in.
Andrew Held, 22, of Westmont, Il., was born in Guatemala City, Guatemala, and adopted when he was an infant.
"When I was around three months old, it was pretty easy to know I was adopted," said Held. "Both of my parents are White, one is German, one is Irish."
He grew up in the suburbs of Chicago for several years before moving a couple miles further away from the Windy City to West Monte. He now calls the Quad Cities, his new home, at least during the school year.
He said growing up as a Hispanic with two European-descended parents wasn't easy. He would ask himself questions like, "Why did I get put in this kind of position?" or "If I was with my birth family, how would things be different?"
In high school, Held said he struggled significantly with finding his own identity.
"I struggled a lot with that reasoning of being put up for adoption, just because the paperwork doesn't really have a lot of information," said Held. "And growing up, that's a big question. I don't have that solidified background that a lot of people my age or my peers have."
He said he first discovered the paperwork about his adoption when he was early in high school.
"So my file that I have, primarily really only has very basic information about my birth mother," said Held. "But that's about where it stops, I have no information about my birth father, or any kind of extended family." However, Held does have a framed picture of his birthmother.
And to some internationally adopted children, they're fortunate if they learn their real date of birth, let alone receive a framed picture of their mother.
According to the United States Department of Health & Human Services, as of 2021, more than 50,000 children are adopted annually. In Illinois, more than 15,000 children were adopted within the past 10 years.
According to Lynn Lohman Anderson, Division Director of Child Welfare and Placement Services for Bethany for Children & Family Services, a Moline-based adoption agency, foster homes are also needed.
"We roughly have about 140 children in foster care currently in various stages of the foster care program," said Anderson. "We need all sorts of foster parents. Foster parents that are willing to take in infants, toddlers, teenagers, males [and] females. Basically anyone that's willing to open their home to a child."
She's been working at Bethany for more than two decades and has noticed a dramatic shift in the types of families wanting to foster in the Quad Cities.
"I would say the eagerness to adopt has always been there," said Lohman Anderson. "It's those that are willing to foster. The difference I would say is, we used to have a lot of two-parent households where one stayed home and one worked. Now a lot of them are both working which makes it difficult because they have children of their own or [because] of their jobs."
Held hasn't seen his birthmother since he was placed for adoption. He said he's now open to talking with her if the opportunity arises.
Around his neck is a necklace with a golden-colored bullet that he wears everyday.
"It's something my mom got me," said Held. "It has a quote from the Bible that says, 'Guard your heart with everyone you have for that is where everything comes from,' and to me that is something that really resonated with me."
If you're interested in becoming a foster parent, you can find out how to do so at Bethany's website.