An adoptive mother asked recently whether those of us in the Baby Scope Era would have had less pain if we had had an open adoption. (The Baby Scoop Era is the period between World War II and Roe v. Wade when a large number of single middle class white women lost their infants to adoption because of the stigmas placed on unwed mothers and their children.When my relinquished daughter was born in 1966, I thought that it would be wonderful if I could have some continuing contact with her. I envisioned a secret child whom I would communicate with through a trusted friend. I fancied myself like the Bette Davis character, Apple Annie, in the 1961 film Pocketful of Miracles. Annie, a disheveled old woman sold apples on a street corner to support her daughter hidden in a Spanish convent.
