Conversations About Adoption

Just an update to let everyone know I'll be attending the summit in Louisville KY March 30th- April 1st. And reminder on how to contact me.

I spoke with Isabel a transracial adoptee who has been in reunion with her mother since she was 17. She is an example of another adoptee who acted out due to trauma, and was sent away. She talks about reunion, her siblings, her adoptive family, and how being racially ambiguous while growing up with a lack of genetic mirroring has affected her sense of identity. Hope you give it a listen! You can find Isabel on TikTok and Instagram I hope you give her a follow! And again the email address if you are interested in being on the podcast is info@conversationsaboutadoption.com Don't forget I have stickers available! 

In this conversation I am talking to Chelle, and our conversation hits many different points. She told me how her open started out as open, but her adopters closed it within the first few months of her life, how she was thrust into reunion when she was a teen because of issues at home, and eventually became a pert of the trouble teen industry when her adoptive parents decided they couldn't deal anymore, and she was sent to an all girls center for troubled teens. They were dehumanized, isolated even from each other, and made to work. We also talk about how she asked her birth dad to re-adopt her!  And she told me how she is involved in the online adoption community today.  You can find her on Instagram at @myalteredadoption She is part of a Facebook group called Exploring grief through art And she is a moderator for the Facebook group Adopted Chameleons If you are an adoptee or first parent who hasn't had the opportunity to share your story on a podcast and would like to, email me at info@conversationsaboutadoption.com

This is a conversation I had with Suzanna, she tells me about her adoption, and the subsequent court battle that happened when her first mom tried to regain custody of her after her revocation period. We also discuss her search and reunion. We have something in common in that we are both Pennsylvania adoptees, and had to go through the same court system to access information about our families. We talk a lot about the awkwardness of reunion and the things we would've done differently knowing what we know now.  If you are a first parent or adoptee who has not yet shared your story on a podcast and would like to, send me an email at info@conversationsaboutadoption.com I have stickers available too!

** TRIGGER WARNING** Vin talks briefly about sexual assault in this episode. This is a conversation with my very good friend Vin who is an international transracial adoptee who was born in India and raised on Australia. We have been friends for several years and we have a conversation up on my YouTube channel that is MUCH more in-depth, but I decided I wanted to include him here in podcast format as well.  If you are an adoptee or parent who lost your child to adoption and are interested in being on the podcast please email me at info@conversationsaboutadoption.com  I am doing a little fundraising by selling 2"x2" stickers, if you are interested you can email at the about address as well. 

Sarah is a baby scoop era adoptee who recently started making tiktoks about her experiences as an adoptee. In this episode she discussed how she felt finding out the only knowledge she had about her first parents was incorrect, including her nationality. Her username on Tiktok is @higher7771 please give her a follow. If you are an adoptee or parent who lost a child to adoption and would like to be on the podcast, please email me at info@conversationsaboutadoption.com I also have stickers available! Email me to get some!

In this special series for National Adoption/Adoptee Awareness month (November) I asked adoptees to call in and leave a message answering the question,  "What is the best advice you could give to an adoptee just learning about the primal wound, and just venturing out of the fog?" I want to thank the people who called in to answer this question!  If you are an adoptee or parent who lost a child to adoption and would like to be on the podcast, please email me at info@conversationsaboutadoption.com I also have stickers available! Email me to get some!

In this conversation I talk with the film maker of "Reckoning with the Primal Wound" Rebecca Autumn Samson! Join us on the Struggle-bus and check out our conversation!  She is a reunited adoptee who was inspired to make a film about her story incorporating the book called "The Primal Wound" by Nancy Verrier.  This book has helped many adoptees recognize how adoption has affected them, however it should be noted that  Nancy is an adoptive mother and this book is written from that perspective.  Her film will be officially available to rent through Vimeo on October 15th, 2022! Links: Tiktok @RWtheprimalwound Website: https://reckoningwiththeprimalwound.com/ Vimeo channel: Blonde Records Twitter: @rwtpw_film  Facebook page And I have a new website up! I still need to build it up, I am working on ideas for what I want to put on it.  www.conversationsaboutadoption.com If you are an adoptee or parent who lost a child to adoption and would like to be on the podcast, please email me at info@conversationsaboutadoption.com I also have stickers available! Email me to get some!

Thanks for joining us today!  In this episode I talk with Marc who is an adoptee with quite a few labels.  He is an international adoptee being born in Colombia. He is a transracial adoptee as his adopters (as he calls them) are mid-western white Americans. And Marc is also transgender.  I came across Marc on Tiktok not long after he joined it, and began making videos about adoption. I am a fan of his content, as it is typically very artistic with a little humor and snarkiness.  You can find his Instagram here.  If you are an adoptee or parent who lost a child to adoption and would like to be on the podcast, please email me at info@conversationsaboutadoption.com I also have stickers available! Email me to get some!

This is a special bonus episode where I have a quick chat with Paul Brian Tovey who is a UK adoptee and artist. He is active on some social media and has been working on collecting data about adoption via a survey project.  If you like you can watch this on YouTube and see a slideshow of some art works he sent me to include.  Please be sure to participate in his adoptee survey! He has a blog on Medium.  You also can find him on Facebook and Twitter. If you are an adoptee or parent who lost a child to adoption and would like to be on the podcast, please email me at info@conversationsaboutadoption.com I also have stickers available! Email me to get some!

In this episode originally posted on YouTube on October 7, 2020, Carrie tells us her story of how she lost her child to adoption. It is another story of a woman in a vulnerable situation being coerced into relinquishing her child.  If you are an adoptee or parent who lost a child to adoption and would like to be on the podcast, please email me at info@conversationsaboutadoption.com I also have stickers available! Email me to get some!

This was a totally spontaneous Conversation had with DezaRay who is a transracial adoptee. I have followed her for years on Instagram, but recently she has joined Adopteetok which is to say the adoption community on Tiktok of adoptees, foster care survivors, first parents, and other advocates who spend their time and energy to bring awareness to all the complexities and ethical issues of infant adoption, transracial adoption, foster to adopt, international adoption, kinship adoption, open adoptions, closed adoptions... and so on.  DezaRay is the Outspoken adoptee and I am so glad she is. We talked about the video she made last week where someone complained about how much it costs to adopt a baby, being a transracial adoptee growing up in Utah, and so much more.  Anytime an adoptee gets to talk with another adoptee, it is kind of like talking an old friend, talking to DezaRay was a lot like that for me especially since I see her face almost every day, and that's probably why this episode is over 2 hours long. oops.  I hope you will listen to the whole episode even if it is in chunks. This was a great conversation about adoption.  Thanks for listening! If you are an adoptee or parent who lost a child to adoption and would like to be on the podcast, please email me at info@conversationsaboutadoption.com I also have stickers available! Email me to get some!

This is a bonus episode originally posted on April 19, 2018 on Youtube.  I asked adoptees and first parents to call in an answer the question, "How has adoption affected your intimate relationships?" If you like the idea of contributing, please subscribe so you can receive notifications about questions you can contribute answers too. 

Hi!  This is the VERY first episode I ever tried to make, so please bear with the editing job. (This is why I don't edit anymore. I am not an editor.) This was originally published in 2016.  This is a conversation with my friend Joey who is also a baby scoop adoptee. He made a documentary film about obtaining his original birth certificate when Ohio made them available to adoptees in 2014. Who am I? is available on YouTube.  Joey and I plan on recording a follow up episode to give an update on his story in the near future. 

**Trigger warning she talks about how babies and children were abused, and her brother's abuse.** This conversation is long but so important as the survivors of Georgia Tann are aging & it is so important that they tell their stories. If you are unfamiliar with Georgia Tann, she ran the Tennessee Children's home in Memphis (Which was very corrupt at the time.) from the 20s till 1950 when she died from cancer just 3 days before she was to be indicted. She stole over 5,000 babies and children from poor families in Tennessee only to sell them to people she deemed more worthy to be parents due to their wealth. Her business spanned the country with syndicated newspaper ads for "available" children being run from New York to California. I first learned of her in an episode of the Criminal podcast called "The Baby snatcher", and have since read the book by Barbara Raymond called "The Baby Thief". Barbara actually tracked down people and dug in the archives of court houses in libraries in order to tell the story of Georgia Tann.  Judy and some of her siblings were children stolen by Georgia. Judy was fortunate that she was adopted by a doting couple, her brother was not as fortunate.  If you are an adoptee or parent who lost a child to adoption and would like to be on the podcast, please email me at info@conversationsaboutadoption.com I also have stickers available! Email me to get some!

This episode is a conversation with Renee Lynn Gellin lost her son through a perfect storm of financial struggles, and adoption coercion. This experience inspired her to want to prevent other mothers from losing their babies to adoption. She is a cofounder of Saving our sisters adoption. If you are unfamiliar with them, they are a family preservation organization. They and their many volunteers around the country work to support mothers in crisis so they do not feel the need to relinquish their baby for adoption. This episode was originally recorded in January of 2019 for my YouTube channel. There was a need for video editing, and I feel inept at editing videos, so it was put on the back burner, and kind of forgotten about. (I know that is crappy) Now that I am releasing episodes as podcast audio again, I reached out to Rene and asked if she would be ok with me releasing it as it is or would she want to rerecord, she said “Run with it!” So I am. I am very excited to finally present this episode to the public. Please bear in mind the information in this episode is dated because the conversation is 4 years old. There is no Youtube version of this episode.  Links Saving Our Sisters website where you can donate, sign up to volunteer, or seek help. Facebook Page for S.O.S. Adoption S.O.S. On Twitter S.O.S. On Tiktok Family Preservation Project on TikTok If you are an adoptee or parent who lost a child to adoption and would like to be on the podcast, please email me at info@conversationsaboutadoption.com I also have stickers available! Email me to get some!

Posted August 2, 2022 This is a conversation I had with Shyanne. She is the first mom featured in the Time magazine article called "The baby Brokers".  This is an audio only version, now video on my YouTube channel due to technical difficulties.  Shyanne's linktree which includes a link to the article.  This conversation was recorded via zoom, which caused a slight delay and occasional overlap. Thanks for bearing with me through this stuff.  If you are an adoptee or parent who lost a child to adoption and would like to be on the podcast, please email me at info@conversationsaboutadoption.com I also have stickers available! Email me to get some!

Originally published 4/29/2018 This is the conversation I had with Janet a Canadian first mother of the baby-scoop era. She has searched and found her daughter but there is very little contact between them at the time this was recorded.  She has a great story to tell and we talk about a whole variety of adoption issues. This one is very long, but I think very worthwhile. Halfway through my dog started barking, I apologize, I hope you can tolerate it and get through the whole conversation.  You can find the video version of this interview on YouTube here.  If you are an adoptee or parent who lost a child to adoption and would like to be on the podcast, please email me at info@conversationsaboutadoption.com I also have stickers available! Email me to get some!

Originally published 4/21/2018 This episode was originally uploaded to YouTube in video format. Damon is a fellow adoptee and host of the podcast Who am I really? He shares his amazing story, and we talk about adoption, podcasting, life, and more.  I apologize for the audio quality. If you would like to be a guest on a future episode, click here. 

Originally published 12/3/2021 This is a great conversation I had with a fellow baby scoop era adoptee Ruth who I met through TikTok and we had a lot to talk about. This was recorded through zoom and is not edited at all.  You can find the video version of this conversation on YouTube. There maybe adult language so may not be appropriate for all listeners.  If you would like to be a guest on a future episode, please click here.