According to Lesli Johnson, Marriage and Family Counselor specializing in adoption related issues, many adoptees have issues with self-worth, shame, identity and control. I wonder if this tends to happen more if a child is older when he/she is adopted or if the age matters? I was adopted at six weeks old and don’t feel as though I had any control or self-worth issues. I don’t recall feeling shame, either. I was very proud of the fact that I am adopted (and still am). And I can’t say I had identity issues; since I was adopted, I knew why I wasn’t like everyone else in my family. If a child is one or two years old, however, he/she might be acutely aware that someone left them behind without a mom and dad or a home. Time in an orphanage could damage their self-worth and all of those things Lesli Johnson mentions. I spoke to a lady who had been in the orphanage until she was 9 months old but she has no recollection of that time. Luckily she didn’t let that affect her attitude in life. She didn’t feel the abandonment so she didn’t harbor resentment towards it. Bu it begs the question, how long does the child have to feel the abandonment for it to take root? What about separation anxiety? Do most adoptees suffer from this even if they were give up as infants? My birth mother didn’t even get to see me before they took me away. I didn’t feel a mother’s touch until I was 6 weeks old. I am told I was really cranky and not a happy baby. Is that the effect of being taken away directly after birth? Lesli Johnson also says that early experiences have a large impact on the structure of our brain however, I did not appear to suffer any long term affects from it. I grew up like any other kid. I did have some self-esteem issues growing up but it had nothing to do with the fact I was adopted. If anything, that fact gave me comfort. So tell me fellow adoptees, at what age were you adopted and what effects do you think it had on you?