Nina,

First of all, congrats on the new addition to your family!

In the community where we raised our son, almost all his friends were or had brothers or sisters who were adopted. Partly because of that he never felt different and I thank God that we had such an extended support system.

I've also found in the course of my research that many, many "cousins" were not related by blood. Even when everyone knew, no one cared. In my family, it was very common for folks in the North to raise family members sent up from the South, especially those from large families.

B.J.