Adoptees On

289 | Bruce Porth Part 2

Today is part two of a two-part episode that we began last week, with our friend Bruce Porth. Today we talk a little more about reunion and what it looks like when someone is being dishonest with you, and also about using breathwork and psychedelics as healing modalities. Have you ever met one of those people that when they speak you just have to listen to every word? Bruce is one of those people for me. We hope you enjoy getting to know him better with us.

 

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288 | Bruce Porth Part 1

 

We are so fortunate to hear from Bruce Porth today; he is one of those people that only speaks when he’s got something thoughtful and insightful to share, and today’s conversation is no exception. Bruce shares about his childhood, some difficult relationship circumstances, his path to uncovering the impact adoption and family separation had on his life, and what reunion has looked like. This is part one of two, and don’t worry, next week we’ll release part two where Bruce shares more about the healing modalities he’s used, inclu...

287 | Ande Stanley

On today’s show we’re welcoming Ande Stanley, creator and host of the podcast, The Adoption Files. Ande is a late discovery adoptee, only finding out accidentally when they were in their thirties. We talk about how that happened, and the reactions of adoptive family members to Ande finally being in on the secret everyone knew but them. We also discuss how Ande found their way to the adoptee community and how some initial bad interactions, instead of deterring them, instead lead the way to Ande becoming a community builder.

 

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286 | Grace Newton, MSW

Today’s guest is Grace Newton, MSW, a Chinese adoptee, author of the prolific blog, Red Thread Broken, and one of the co-authors of the Adoptee Consciousness Model. We discuss the reasons for the rise and fall of international adoption from China, and how the critical adoption scholarship of Chinese adoptees is on the rise, including Grace’s own contributions. Grace also gets more personal, sharing about her relationship with her Chinese American fiancé and how their love story and family have helped her on her racial reclamation journey.

 

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285 | [Healing Series] The Seven Insights into Adoptee Attachment with Pam Cordano, MFT

Today’s episode is a special episode in our Healing Series, where I interview therapists who are also adoptees themselves, so they know from personal experience what it feels like to be an adoptee. We’re joined by Pam Cordano, MFT, talking all about the seven challenges of adoptee attachment, which include profound ongoing chronic misattunement, disconnection from our instincts, and commodification.

 

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284 | Dr. Alice Diver

Today’s guest is the remarkable Dr. Alice Diver, law professor and outspoken adoptee advocate. Alice has written multiple journal articles and books on the topic of adoptee rights, including her latest, Genetic Stigma in Law and Literature: Orphanhood, Adoption, and the Right to Reunion. Alice shares some of her personal story with us, and then we dive into her work including language in adoption, where you’ll hear such gems as “surplus people” and “substitute families”. We also get to talk about how adoptees are viewed by the law in comparison with adoptive parents.

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283 | Cam Lee Small, MS, LPCC

We have a returning guest, adoptee therapist Cam Lee Small back with us today. Cam has a brand new book out, The Adoptee’s Journey: From Loss and Trauma to Healing and Empowerment, published by a faith-based press. I recently got to meet Cam in real life, and he’s just as warm and genuine as he appears on the Internet. In our conversation today, Cam and I talk about how most churches have majorly missed the mark in serving adoptees, we address how “gotcha day” misses the “lost-ya day” and the grief of ado...

282 | Alison Larkin

Alison Larkin is here today, and we are so so honoured to have her with us. It’s likely a lot of you already know Alison, but for those who are new to her, she is a stand-up comedian, voice artist, audiobook narrator, actress, producer, screenwriter, and bestselling author of The English American. Today we get to hear her story which includes reunions with both birth parents, seeking out a therapist after meeting Nancy Verrier, and how she finally came to truly fall in love in her fifties only to have her fiancé die suddenly dur...

281 | Janet Sherlund

Today we’re welcoming Janet Sherlund to the show! Janet is the author of the brand new memoir, Abandoned at Birth: Searching for the Arms that Once Held Me. Janet shares some of her story with us, including her challenging relationship with her adoptive mother, her struggles with anxiety, and the reason she finally felt free to write her memoir.

 

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280 | Svetlana Sandoval

We’re back, and I’m sick again, and my voice is only going to be like this for the intro because luckily I was healthy when I interviewed this week’s guest, Svetlana Sandoval. Svetlana is an international adoptee, adopted from Russia at about six months old. We talk about what sparked an interest to search for her biological family, how she navigated the language barriers using technology and a friend of a friend. Svetlana also shares about her decision to reclaim her original name. Due to the sensitive nature of her reunion during the wa...