What? You’ve never heard of it?

The Michael Reagan Syndrome is when a person who happens to be adopted is constantly referred to as the adopted son or daughter of ________.  (Don’t bother googling it, it’s a made up term.) Michael Reagan is the oldest son of President Ronald Reagan with his first wife, Jane Wyman.  But the media never refers to him as the son of President Reagan. He is always the adopted son of Ronald Reagan. Even though he is now 69 years old.

Why is the press obsessed with describing people as adopted? You would think after seven decades, Michael Reagan would be able to drop the “adopted” moniker. “Adopted son” will no doubt be in his obituary some day.

When famous people adopt children, it is the same scenario. Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman are parents of a son and daughter and when these two young adults (Isabella, age 21 and Connor, age 19) are in the news, no matter the story, they are described as adopted.  Both Tom and Nicole and their spouses have daughters from their subsequent marriages, but the younger girls are never described as the biological children of Tom and Nicole.  They are simply their children.

Brad Pitt and Angelena Jolie are parents of six children and if you read about them, you will be incessantly reminded three of their children are adopted. Since these children are from Asia and Africa, I think most reasonable people would already know these children joined their family via adoption. Their oldest is now 13, so we can probably move on from the adoption story, wouldn’t you think?

If you were a kid, would you want to constantly be reminded you are adopted? Wouldn’t you just want to be a kid, period, and not be treated differently than other children?

Look, if the topic of a story is adoption, great!  Let’s talk all about it. But otherwise, why are we describing children as being the adopted son or daughter of anyone?  We don’t say  this child is the in vitro daughter of _______ or this boy is the C section son of ______ . So why are we constantly singling out  adopted kids who happen to be adopted? (See, I almost did it myself).

Several years ago there was a brutal murder in our city. A man and his wife were killed by their son. You guessed it, their adopted son. For weeks, we read about the horrible killing and all the sordid details. And in every single article, this man was described as their adopted son. No one blinked an eye. But what difference did it make that he was adopted? Especially since he was 36 years old. It would have not been any more or less horrific if he was the couple’s biological son.

So why does the Michael Reagan Syndrome happen? Tragically, an overall prejudice exists about adoption and the flawed idea persists  that it is not  natural to raise someone else’s child. An adopted kid is not truly your “own” son or daughter. (See Post from October 8). There are people who genuinely believe adoption is an inferior way to create a family.

Sigh. It deeply pains me to say it, but adoption prejudice is fully ingrained and stubborn to remove.

When you create a family via adoption, you work to overturn this type of flawed thinking and, your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to fight the battle for change in the hearts and minds of your less enlightened fellow humans. Good Luck, Jim. Or whatever your name is.