i'll post page one..there are 3 other pages at the link below..
she also has started her own website to help other people find new families.
http://www.glamour.com/news/articles/2007/02/newparents?currentPage=1
Single white female seeks new parents
When Jenna MacFarlane’s mother and father cut all ties with her, she placed an ad looking for new ones. The strangest part: She found them.
As told to Genevieve Field
MacFarlane (standing) with her "adopted" parents, Steve and Karen Kesler
In many ways, I had an idyllic childhood. I grew up in the hills of Los Angeles, along with my two younger brothers. My mother was a housewife and my father was an electrical engineer. We had lots of pets and watched the sun set over the ocean every night. I remember feeling very secure in my early years.
But when I turned 13, things changed: We moved to Germany for my father’s job, and I think my mother, feeling isolated, became troubled by memories of her painful childhood. My father had issues with his parents too, in part because they’d never approved of his choice in my mother. By the time we moved back to the States, both my mom and dad were on bad terms with their parents, and they made it clear that my brothers and I were not to communicate with anyone with whom we had a blood tie. If we did, it was implied that they might cut us off completely. I can’t speculate as to what was really going on—all my parents would say about our relatives was “They’re terrible people.”
I was a willful, emotional child, and it wasn’t easy for me to have my extended family taken away from me. I missed swimming in my grandparents’ pool and running around their big house. And because my parents and I didn’t have the closest relationship, I yearned to have relatives around to talk to. Nonetheless, for years I tried to comply with my parents’ ultimatum; our bond was tenuous as it was, and I didn’t want to strain it further.
It wasn’t until I was 33 that I finally got the push—the inspiration—I needed to truly stand up for myself. I was on a two-week vacation, trekking in Thailand. I’ll never forget it: I had reached the top of a mountain, and my trekking guide started talking about Buddhism. He said people needed to take responsibility for their own lives and happiness. In that moment, I knew that even if it meant losing my parents, I needed to get back in touch with my relatives. I don’t know what kind of relationships I expected to have with my grandparents and aunts and cousins; I just knew I wanted to know them again.
After returning home I wrote my mom and dad a letter explaining what I planned to do. They wrote back, letting me know they were not happy with my decision. At that point we stopped communicating, and they eventually told my brothers that they couldn’t have me in their lives at all. What followed was a very dark time for me. I broke up with my boyfriend, quit my job and began trying to reconnect with the extended family members I’d missed so much. It was slow going. They were not “terrible people,” as my parents had said, but they had been hurt by all the years of estrangement. While they were open and kind to me, they were also cautious, as was I. Eventually, when my grandmother fell ill, I spent as much time as I could helping my aunt to care for her. It wasn’t easy, but she was my grandmother, and when she passed away it was consoling to know I’d been there for her, even if it was only at the very end.