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.
Adoption tropes make for blockbuster films and viral news stories, but, as we do here on Adoption Unfiltered, let’s dive deeper. Why do such tropes exist and perpetuate? Why do we harbor cultural biases such as: adoptive parents being unquestioningly unselfish and amazing; birth parents being undeserving of raising their kids; adoptees being ungrateful if they speak up and share a fuller story about adoption.
What does healthy engagement look like around adoption? Rules for how to engage when talking with others in the adoption constellation.
It’s November, which means National Adoption Awareness Month. Adoption talk, adoption talk, everywhere you go! We’ve described it as overwhelming, emotional laboring, and metamorphing. What was the original intent of NAAM? In what ways has the original intent expanded and shifted? Who has benefitted from NAAM, and who hasn’t? Who
Sara Easterly (adoptee), Kelsey Vander Vliet Ranyard (birth mom) and Lori Holden (adoptive mom) kick of Season 2 with a special Adoption Constellation Round Table, for which we invited adoptees, birth parents, adoptive parents, and others who have something to say about adoption to talk together around this question: What
What will happen when the Supreme Court officially rules on Roe v Wade? Sara Easterly (adoptee), Kelsey Vander Vliet Ranyard (birth mom) and Lori Holden (adoptive mom) talk about the overlap between abortion and adoption. Not an easy conversation! Adoption and abortion are so often pitted against each other as
Gordon Neufeld, Ph.D. joins Sara (adoptee), Kelsey(birth mom), and Lori (adoptive mom) to talk about attachment and healing that can come—or not—after trauma. He provides validation for adoptees that separation is, in fact, a wound that needs tending. He provides wisdom for birth parents on how to incorporate the melancholy
As the companion discussion to Problematic Behaviors of Adoptive Parents, Adoptee Tony Hynesof C.A.S.E. (the Center for Adoption Support and Education) joins Adoptee Sara Easterly, Birth Mom Kelsey Vander Vliet Ranyard, and Adoptive Mom Lori Holden to cover some of the problematic behaviors of birth parents. Tony has quite a
What happens when tragedy strikes and children need help? Where is that very fine line between helping via adoption and hurting via trafficking? How can we best avoid crossing it? Kathryn Joyce, who researched and wrote Child Catchers: Rescue, Trafficking, and the New Gospel of Adoption, joins Sara (adoptee), Kelsey
Sara (adoptee), Kelsey (birth mom) and Lori (adoptive mom) offer their perspectives on various words people in the triad are called, like “ungrateful adoptee,” “first mom,” and “adoptoraptor.” Plus, other phrases like “put up” vs “placed for” adoption, “Real Mom,” “Gotcha Day,” “Tummy Mummy,” “adoption triad” vs “adoption constellation,” and
There aren’t too many spaces in which men are marginalized, but Adoption Land is one of them. Birth Father Ridghaus joins Adoptee Sara Easterly, Birth Mom Kelsey Vander Vliet Ranyard, and Adoptive Mom Lori Holden to reveal the viewpoint of a lesser heard voice—that of a birth father. Talk about
A viewer asked: how can adoptive parents and birth parents best navigate adoption relationships and center the adoptee? Great question! Sara reveals the main thing an adoptee needs from adoptive parents, no matter if in an open / closed / international / foster adoption. Kelsey shares insights about what may
Money in adoption affects all of us. But it affects each of us differently. Adoptee Sara Easterly, Birth Mom Kelsey Vander Vliet Ranyard, and Adoptive Mom Lori Holden talk about why domestic infant adoption is so expensive, what goes into the fees, and what happens when people in desperate situations:
Adoptee Astrid Castro of Adoption Mosaic, joins Adoptee Sara Easterly, Birth Mom Kelsey Vander Vliet Ranyard, and Adoptive Mom Lori Holden to discuss some of the problematic behaviors of adoptive parents. Listen in to understand the unintended effects adoptive parents sometimes have on others in their adoption triad, perhaps without
An adoptee (Sara Easterly) a birth mom (Kelsey Vander Vliet Ranyard), and an adoptive mom (Lori Holden) talk together about the important topic of adoption and mental health as it affects each side of what has traditionally been considered the “adoption triad.” They talk about the need for a deeper
An adoptee (Sara Easterly) a birth mom (Kelsey Vander Vliet Ranyard), and an adoptive mom (Lori Holden) address an elephant in the room that appeared from our last talk on naming newborns: why SHOULD adoptees, birth parents, and adoptive parents talk and listen to each other? Watch Listen Read the
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