Kelly Haffield loves her farm in Wrenshall.

She’s got a pig named Vinny, a horse named Angel, a mini donkey named Willow, plus 30 chickens. And that’s not counting her dozen dogs and cats.

“Animals have always been my thing,” she said.

And she takes care of other people’s pups, since she opened her Hafftime Farm Dogboarding Kennel last year.

But it’s her human family that had us visiting on Thursday.

November is National Adoption Month.

Kelly was adopted as a child by a couple from Cloquet, Evelyn and Martin Green. The couple had three children already, and then adopted Kelly. They also adopted another girl, Kristie, as well.

“I always knew I was adopted growing up,” Haffield said.

She never thought about searching for birth parents, until her mother passed away. So she did get the records from Children’s Home Society in St. Paul in 1999.

But then she didn’t do anything else until her sister got her a DNA kit in 2018. After that, she was able to find some relatives, including a full sister and many half-siblings from her birth parents.

“More things definitely made more sense to me, when I knew my heritage,” she said.

However, this path may not be for everyone.

“I think it’s a definitely a personal, very personal decision that somebody has to make, whether they want to pursue their birth parents. And I think the other thing, too, is if you make that decision, you should be prepared. Be prepared for what you’re going to find out, because it might not be what you hoped or what you were expecting,” she shared.

A strong support system helps, she said, when you’re trying to process some of the feelings.

Earlier this month, Senator Amy Klobuchar introduced legislation to increase support for adoptive families.