Hosts Sara Easterly (adoptee), Kelsey Vander Vliet Ranyard (birth parent), and Lori Holden (adoptive parent) discuss sensitive and timely issues through the lens of our lived experiences of adoption, and dialogue with others from within the adoption constellation.
“There’s so much out there about the people who are ‘successful’ at adopting, but there’s nothing about people who have walked away from the process.” — Jess Tennant, a woman who decided NOT to adopt, due, in part, to predatory adoption agency practices, in ep 31. Jess, is an ally
“Let’s start talking about mothers in crisis.” — Patrice Martin, DBA, on the many failures of baby boxes, in ep 30. Patrice Martin is uniquely qualified to speak on the topic of baby boxes, which is a phenomenon that takes existing Safe Haven laws an unnecessary step too far. Patrice
“Our decision and application to adopt literally caused what happened to the very child we wanted to help.” —Jessica Davis, Founder and Executive Director of Kugatta, in ep 29. What if you discovered that the child you adopted was not actually an orphan, but someone who had been trafficked away
“So many parents are showing up and listening. I’m going to keep showing up with them.” —April Dinwoodie, episode 28. After decades in this space as a transracial adoptee, activist, executive director, podcaster, mentor, and many other roles, what still surprises April? How might people do this work in a
“You’re dealing with a lot of external politics, but there are a lot of internal politics, too.” —Betsie Norris, Founder and Executive Director of Adoption Network, in ep 27. How did original birth certificates become available to adult adoptees in Ohio? What were the arguments of the those opposed? What
“When I found out the name of my birth mother, it was the first time I felt tethered to the earth … in many respects, I was then able to walk on the earth.” —Greg Luce, Executive Director of Adoptees United and Attorney and Founder, Adoptee Rights Law Center Why
“One of the most surprising things is the feedback I’ve gotten from people who find Adoptees On: ‘OMG, I literally thought I was the only who had these internal, tumultuous feelings.’ ” —Haley Radke, host and creator of the podcast Adoptees On. Is there such a thing as an ethical
“Looking at adoption in all its many facets is extremely difficult for any of us. The narrative is rainbows and butterflies and we all learn too late. It tells each of us what we want to hear.” — Claudia Corrigan D’Arcy, “information purveyor and data hoarder,” in ep 24. What
“When we shared our stories, found our voices, started to speak and connect, there was so much in common, regardless of our birth countries.” — Lynelle Long in Ep 23. Lynelle Long founded InterCountry Adoptee Voices in 1998 to educate, support, connect, collaborate, galvanise and give voice to intercountry adoptees
“If I was allowed to grieve from the minute I found out I was adopted, my whole life trajectory would have been different. If only I had been allowed to feel sad.” — Pamela Karanova in ep22 Pamela is a beacon of light in the adoption community. Her own difficult
“What is the hard part about adoption? ADOPTION is the hard part of adoption.” —A guest in Episode 21 Several adoptees, birth parents, adoptive parents, and allies gather around the table to suss out the question, “What is hard about adoption?” Is it relinquishment vs adoption? Abandonment vs assimilation? Is
What are the deeper layers of the connection between attachment and food? This is a fascinating conversation with Deborah MacNamara, PhD, author of Nourished: Connection, Food, and Caring for Our Kids (and everyone else we love), for anyone dealing with digestive or attachment issues—which is, likely, all of us. “If
What would it be like to live in a community that protects you from pain, grief, loss, and other difficult feelings? How would it be to have so much sameness among community members that envy was eradicated? What if individuals were prevented from making bad choices? What would happen in
Dr. Joyce Maguire Pavao has been living adoption for more than 75 years as an adoptee—and professionally connected to adoption for 55 years in various roles, including as a psychologist and lecturer in psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. She is the author of The Family of Adoption, and we three authors
“Adoption seems simple from the outside. But when you’re in the thick of it, you see things in ways you never expected.” Author Melissa Guida-Richards (What White Parents Should Know About Transracial Adoption) joins us to talk about discovering at age 19 that she had been adopted, and that her ethnicity didn’t match her parents. What was it like to experience such a shifting in fundamental truths about herself? And how could such a breach of trust end up bringing her and her parents closer together?
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