Recycled
A Reluctant Search for True Self Through Nurture, Nature, and Free Will
By Jack F. Rocco, M.D.
He didn’t look like anyone else in his family. He didn’t share expressions with any of them. He became a master chameleon to try to fit in, never quite feeling like he did.
Jack Rocco is one of the more than two million babies born in the 1960s who were taken away from their birth mothers and sent to live with an adoptive family. He was adopted by a blue-collar, Italian American family. Jack’s identity was built around his Italian heritage and while he knew the story of his “Gotday,” he didn’t know the story of his “birth day.” His was a closed adoption, and all he knew was that his birth parents were a young couple—an Italian father and a German Irish mother—who couldn’t afford to raise a child.
He was also one of the lucky ones. On the outside, it appeared that Dr. Rocco had weathered the adoption phenomenon with ease: he had a successful career as an orthopedic surgeon, a nice home, a beautiful wife and two children, and he traveled the world helping children in faraway places like Madagascar. But then his marriage broke down and the pandemic hit and he began to question everything.
Turns out he didn’t know the truth.
In Recycled, Dr. Rocco shares his journey of discovering that the birth story he's been told and his belief about closed adoptions—that there's no way to obtain details—might not be true. He devours books about adoption and adoption trauma. He tries to follow the long and twisted tentacles of nurture, nature, and free will—which parts of him were due to genetics? The nurturing environment of his adoptive home? And which parts did he have control over?
As some of the puzzle pieces of his life click into place, others remain disconnected and swirling out of reach. And then, he makes a discovery that shatters his very self-identity.
The nature, nurture, or free will questions are more than intellectual exercises for me. They’re personal.
As one of millions of infants relinquished by their mothers and put up for adoption, the concepts of nurture, nature, and free will have played an integral, intriguing part in my existence. Being a part of the closed adoption system, neither my family nor I were allowed to know the parents from whom I originated. I was adopted close to the end of what was called the “Baby
Scoop Era.”
Beginning around 1940 and through approximately 1970, an estimated four million newborn infants were put up for adoption. The post-World War II baby boom era with fast cars, sock hops, and no sex education or birth control also led to a rise in unwanted pregnancies. The mother was often blamed for this lapse in judgment and encouraged to relinquish her child and be “rehabilitated” if she wanted to have any chance to re-assimilate into society. Adoption was presented to most of them as the only option by their parents, doctors, and priests. Just go away to visit an aunt, have the baby, give it up, and come back so no one would know.
Let me make this point strongly and frequently in advance: I had a great family, and I have benefited from the upbringing and
nurturing they gave me. There are, however, well-known unintended consequences of this relinquishment and abandonment as an infant. Adopted children are not, in any way, a tabula rasa, or blank slate. Everyone involved in an adoption needs to be aware and understand that this blessing of a chosen child is a unique individual carrying his or her own skills, baggage, and emotions with them. Despite every effort to sugar-coat or hide the fact, they have just lost their mother. This is not going to
go unnoticed. At least not by them.
— from Recycled: A Reluctant Search for True Self Through Nurture, Nature, and Free Will
“With quick pacing and an impressive willingness to document both the successes and personal failings of its author, the memoir shines a light on the dual identities that many kids of adoption feel they possess: “My parents gave me the opportunity to believe in magic even if it was at times pretend, yet find inner joy and gratitude in being a part of something that really was wonderful and highly imperfect simultaneously.”
Readers will find plenty of warmth, humor, and intelligence in this poignant text that also raises fascinating questions about nature versus nurture. An enlightening personal look at the emotional challenges often faced by adopted children.”
—kirkus reviews
“The way Jack Rocco confronts us with his truth is both eye-popping, insightful, and clever. He is a daring writer. As a fellow adopted person, I took away a refreshing glimpse into the duality we face. The stories are both gripping and illuminating. I considered a plethora of new ideas and appreciated the raw historical vignettes and character development. I would say Recycled is required reading for anyone wanting to better understand the nuances of being adopted, or who simply wants an entertaining read.”
—REBECCA AUTUMN SANSOM
Award-winning filmmaker of Reckoning with the Primal Wound
About Dr. Rocco
Jack F. Rocco, MD, has more than thirty years as a board-certified orthopedic surgeon and a fellow of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons. His work has taken him to many countries and cultures, including to Japan, where he served in the US Air Force, and to Madagascar, where, through a nonprofit organization he established, he treated children suffering primarily from clubfoot. He has served on the board at Shriners Hospital for Children in Philadelphia.
Dr. Rocco graduated from the University of Pittsburgh in 1988 with a degree in behavioral neuroscience, and earned his medical degree from Temple University in 1992. He completed his five-year residency in orthopedics in 1997. He was raised in Erie, PA, has lived and worked in cities like Providence, RI, Altoona, PA, and Albemarle, NC, and lives outside Hartford, CT.
He’s the proud father of two soon-to-be-adult children, who live in Rhode Island.
Adoption has been at the center of my entire life, both good and bad, and Recycled is an honest attempt to look at the issue through the lens that it represented in my life. If it can be of benefit to others going through the journey, I will be happy. If it helps someone else look at adoption in a different way that they haven’t considered, I will be proud. Criticism will of course be abundant for every stupid statement I have or will make on the subject. No one is all knowing, and I have made many mistakes, and I recognize that, as well.
I am not trying to be political, but there will be political divisionon the journey that I have taken. I’m also not trying to be emotional, but of course this memoir is my account, so it will be emotional to me and my family. I’m not trying to assess the economic impact of the law, but there will be impact. This book is quite simply my story and the manner in which I arrived at my current thoughts. This book is an evolution, the same way my knowledge of my self has been and will continue to be an evolution.
We just need to evaluate the impact of early maternal abandonment on the newborn child.
It is not insignificant.
— from Recycled: A Reluctant Search for True Self Through Nurture, Nature, and Free Will
Available in ebook, paperback, and audio wherever you buy your books.
About Ingenium Books
Learn more about the publisher
behind Recycled by Jack Rocco
and other great books.
Get the Ingenium BooksLetter
Stay in the know with our weekly newsletter of publishing, author, and book news. Opt out any time.
Ready to
Publish With Us?
Ready to be an Ingenium Books author? Explore partnership publishing options with us today.
