[raduga]

My mother was adopted at the age of two or three, and doesn't really remember her bmom. She was raised in a white family (adopted by her bdad's cousin), and never seriously considered that she wasn't white. She really believed she was their child. Except strangers always asked her what tribe she was from. Also, she remembers now in retrospect that her amom always made nasty comments about her hair (they made her curl it) and teeth and skin tone. No one ever told her she looked pretty as a child. She also wasn't allowed to wear red (still not sure why), although their other (biological) daughter was.
My sister and I don't look like our mother - our friends always thought that WE were adopted. But anyway, I think her story sounds really strange, and just wanted to know if anyone else had that kind of experience. Also, is it unusual (that is, if my mother is indeed half Native) for such children to be adopted out at that age, and by relatives no less?