There comes a time in every child’s life when he or she entertains two possibilities. One: your parents are from Mars. Two, you must have been adopted. Usually these revelations occur in tandem . . . after a huge fight with Mom and/or Dad; or after a sibling beats us up or puts us down. It dawns on us that no way could we really be related to such mean, bossy, completely opposite people.

We must be adopted.

Remember when adoption was a highly confidential, even secretive, process? That made it a great source for childhood fantasies. “Closed adoptions” were the norm from the 1920s through the 1960s. The birth mother didn’t know and couldn’t know who the adoptive parents were. The adoptive parents didn’t know who the birth mother was. The adopted child didn’t know anything — especially if …