217 | Lisa Bird-Wilson I am thrilled to introduce you to today’s guest, Lisa Bird-Wilson, the author of the phenomenal novel, Probably Ruby. We talk about what it means to be Indigenous and adopted into a white family and how she has now spent decades exploring her Metis identity. Lisa shares some behind-the-scenes info about the process of writing Probably Ruby, why she’s currently writing a memoir, and the importance of having that history preserved for her children. During this interview, the...
May 27, 2022•48 min•Ep. 217
216 | Annalisa Toccara Today guest host Lisette Austin speaks with Annalisa Toccara, the co-founder of the UK organization, Adoptee Futures. Annalisa shares about the complexities of her relationship with her adoptive family, and her experience coming “out of the fog.” Lisette and Annalisa also discuss grief and loss, they’ve both lost an adoptive parent within the last year or two. Annalisa talks about the loss of her adoptive mother in 2021, what the grieving process has been like, and the pro...
May 13, 2022•43 min•Ep. 216
215 | Lee Herrick Today’s guest is the exceptional poet Lee Herrick. If you haven’t read any of Lee’s work, today is the day to make a purchase at your favourite bookstore! Lee is a Korean adoptee and shares how he found out later in life he was born in a completely different city than he was told. We discuss poetry as a social critique, surviving feelings of deep despair, and how writing poetry and finding the adoptee community has been such a gift. Full Show Notes Here Show Notes Recommended R...
Apr 22, 2022•55 min•Ep. 215
214 | Sunny Reed We are thrilled to talk with Sunny Reed while she’s right in the midst of her Ph.D. program developing a new transformational framework for transnational adoption. We believe her focus on connecting critical adoption research studies with existing child-focused and child-centering scholars is going to be revolutionary over the next decade. Haley and Sunny discuss some of what that means, as Sunny gives us a preview of her framework, but we also get personal talking about some he...
Apr 15, 2022•56 min•Ep. 214
213 | Kendra Mylnechuk Potter Guest host Lisette Austin speaks with Kendra Mylnechuk Potter, actor, yoga teacher, Native adoptee, and subject of the documentary, Daughter of Lost Bird. Kendra shares her powerful adoption and reunion story, about navigating identity issues while claiming her cultural heritage, and what it was like to reunite with her biological mother, family, and community as part of filming a documentary. Kendra also talks about the painful and abusive U.S. policies around Nati...
Apr 08, 2022•49 min•Ep. 213
212 | Mary Anna King Today the author of our April Adoptees On(ly) book club pick, B______s is with us! Mary Anna King was one of our very first podcast guests almost six years ago on season one. We discuss the challenges of being a kinship adoptee, the things that are often overlooked (like estrangements and other conflicts) that can force children to be unfairly used as weapons. We also talk about what it feels like to be a generational trauma cycle-breakers as Mary is expecting her first chil...
Apr 01, 2022•1 hr•Ep. 212
211 | Sullivan Summer Today’s guest is the brilliant Sullivan Summer! Growing up as a black transracial adoptee with white adoptive parents, Sullivan was actively discouraged from identifying as black by her adoptive mother. She shares about her recent decision to change her full name as a sign of identity reclamation and we also discuss the intersection of adoption, race, and the United States’ history of slavery. Full Show Notes Here Show Notes Recommended Resources Outsiders Within: Writing o...
Mar 25, 2022•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 211
210 | Stephanie Drenka Today’s guest is the incredible Stephanie Drenka, and we say incredible because she saw the need for an online platform for underrepresented communities and went ahead and built VISIBLE magazine in one night. Stephanie talks about her shifting view of adoption over time, how being raised in a predominantly white community caused her to experience internalized racism, and why sometimes when you see a need in the community, you’ve got to be the one to go ahead and fill the g...
Mar 18, 2022•57 min•Ep. 210
209 | Dr. Hollee McGinnis The indomitable Dr. Hollee McGinnis is on the podcast today! Many of you have definitely heard of Hollee and her immense contributions to the adoptee community both academically as a scholar and as a community builder which includes starting the adoptee-centric organization, Also Known As, over 25 years ago. Today we get to talk about some deeply personal topics to Hollee, which of course includes community building, but we also discuss how Hollee’s perspective on adopt...
Mar 11, 2022•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 209
Guest host Lisette Austin interviews her close lifelong friend Iana, who helped Lisette find her birth father using genetic genealogy. Iana shares her adoption and reunion story, and what led her to “come out of the fog” and begin exploring adoptee issues. She also shares what led her to become interested in genealogy, the importance of having a close adoptee friend, and what her top adoptee resources are. Together Lisette and Iana share some of the story behind their detective hunt, including a...
Mar 04, 2022•57 min•Ep. 208
Today we’re talking with Lisette Austin, who is going to have a very special role here at Adoptees On, but we won’t spoil exactly what that is, yet. Lisette is an award-winning podcaster, passionate about travel, and also happens to be one of Haley’s good friends. We discuss what it’s meant for Lisette to learn more about her biological family using DNA testing and genealogical research and we share why this particular episode is a milestone marker in the life of the Adoptees On podcast. Please ...
Feb 25, 2022•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 207
Today we are honoured to introduce you to Mike Trupiano. Mike shares about his painful childhood, marred by violence and a feeling of being fully unwanted. We talk about adoptee healing, about searching for his biological family, which included a literal doorstop visit where he dressed up as a delivery driver. He’s a skilled storyteller, actor and comedian, also a sober coach. Now living in Germany, Mike’s worked so hard at self-care and reclaiming identity, we think you’ll join us in being in a...
Feb 18, 2022•1 hr•Ep. 206
Today we are joined by Melissa Guida-Richards, author of What White Parents Should Know about Transracial Adoption: An Adoptee's Perspective on Its History, Nuances, and Practices. Melissa is a late discovery adoptee, accidentally finding out at age 19 that she was adopted. She shares with us how she’s since reconciled with her adoptive mother and how they now navigate open conversations about race and adoption. Melissa also tells us about how and why she decided to educate and engage with adopt...
Feb 11, 2022•50 min•Ep. 205
Today I’m talking with Jan Beatty, poet, professor, and the author of the recently released memoir, American Bastard. We talk about how Jan wants to disrupt the traditional narrative, what she calls the “whitewashed” view of adoption. What happens when you publicly name your hockey-famous biological father, even after he denies your paternity claim? We even get to hear a reading from American Bastard, and it is so powerful it certainly made me tear up. Full Show Notes Here Show Notes Recommended...
Feb 04, 2022•57 min•Ep. 204
I’m honoured to introduce you to Lisa Olivera today, one of my favourite therapists to follow on Instagram. Her gentle and compassionate presence feels like just what we need in this time. The title of Lisa’s new book, Already Enough: A Path to Self Acceptance, is the perfect description of the message she wants to share with us today: we’re already enough. Full Show Notes Here This podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only. Nothing stated on it, either by its hosts or any guest...
Jan 28, 2022•58 min•Ep. 203
Today Leah Cooper shares how listening to hours and hours and hours of adoptees, birth families, and adoptive parents sharing their stories lead her to what she calls her “volcano of grief”. Leah was a part of a team that created a play called In My Heart: The Adoption Play Project, which has been transformed into a graphic novel. We discuss how the impact of unpacking her adoption experience has been transformational. Full Show Notes Here Show Notes Recommended Resources In My Heart: The Adopti...
Jan 21, 2022•52 min•Ep. 202
Free preview Patreon episode with all the details of our 2022 Book Club: Adoptees On(ly) Book Club 2022 Announcements Check out our Adoptees On(ly) Book Club picks to add to your TBR pile: https://www.adopteeson.com/bookclub Join our private community: https://www.adopteeson.com/community Connect With Us Haley Radke: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook Adoptees On: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook Subscribe Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | iHeart Radio | Spotify | Stitcher | YouTube Support Adoptees ...
Jan 14, 2022•20 min•Ep. 201
Today we are talking about celebrations with Pam Cordano, MFT because we are celebrating 200 episodes of the Adoptees On Podcast! Pam and Haley talk about how celebrations can often feel scary for us as adopted people because feeling joy or happiness can be disorienting (upper limit problem anyone?). Pam shares a few different reasons why we may feel that way, teaches us steps towards feeling happiness, and how to hold space for both good things and challenging things simultaneously. Full Show N...
Dec 10, 2021•57 min•Ep. 200
Today we welcome back to Adoptees On, Brian Stanton. Brian shares with us how the pandemic morphed his script for a play into his fantastic new film @GhostKingdom. We talk about how relationships can shift for us as adopted people: building relationships with people we may believe are genetic relatives until it’s confirmed they aren’t, and how his conception story that Brian and his mother believed for decades got upended. Full Show Notes Here Show Notes Recommended Resources Brian Stanton’s fil...
Dec 03, 2021•59 min•Ep. 199
I’m thrilled to bring you today’s guest, Andrea Ross, author of Unnatural Selection: A Memoir of Adoption and Wilderness. Andrea shares how a health crisis lead her outdoors, and how a decade of spending time in the wilderness brought her a feeling of groundedness. We discuss the loneliness that adopted people can face and how we’ve both seen this theme of reconnecting with ancestral landscapes popping up more and more frequently. Full Show Notes Here Show Notes Recommended Resources Unnatural S...
Nov 26, 2021•50 min•Ep. 198
Today we’re back in the spirituality series and we are taking a look at cults and high-demand groups. My guests have both been impacted by cults and they have a theory that adopted people may be more susceptible to these types of groups. Donna and Sara have extensively researched cults since they got out and have a ton of knowledge to share with us. They both tell their personal stories of how they inadvertently found themselves in high-demand groups, how they got out, and what adopted people sp...
Nov 19, 2021•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 197
Today we welcome Jack Dermody to the podcast. We talk about family secrets in adoption and the impact it has on all the parties when they are revealed. Jack also gets personal and tells us what happens when you start closely examining your adoptee experience in your seventies. We talk about family preservation and adoptee support, and how that looks like community showing up for each other on a large scale. Full Show Notes Here Show Notes Recommended Resources @GhostKingdom by Brian Stanton Tree...
Nov 12, 2021•42 min
We are revisiting the topic of estrangement today. Earlier in 2021 we did several episodes that examined estrangement and what made some of us decide to break contact with our adoptive families. When I was producing that series I always wanted to have an episode where we could talk about what it would look like to go BACK to our adoptive family after a period of estrangement. Can you ever go back once you’ve left? Today Ellianna shares her experiences of reunion with her birth mother, and what l...
Nov 05, 2021•1 hr•Ep. 195
Adoptee Remembrance Day is commemorated annually on October 30th. This episode has a collection of recordings that listeners have submitted to the show on what Adoptee Remembrance Day means to them. Haley also shares a way you can show up for fellow adoptees during November, using #DearAdoptees. Full Show Notes Here Recommended Resources Adoptee Remembrance Day - commemorated annually on October 30th What is Adoptee Remembrance Day? Adoptee Remembrance Day Facebook Page RSVP to the Adoptee Remem...
Oct 29, 2021•24 min•Ep. 194
Do we have to choose between our biological family and our adoptive family? What about choosing between their religions or spiritual practices? Mar shares how they are both Jewish and Catholic. We talk through how they chose adult conversion to Judaism as a way to feel permanently grafted to their adoptive family. Mar is also very open about how recovery programs have helped them to identify as spiritual but not religious. Full Show Notes Here Show Notes Recommended Resources Adoptee Voices &...
Oct 22, 2021•50 min•Ep. 193
Our guest today is scholar and author Susan Devan Harness. Susan shares from an anthropological perspective about the policies in place behind the Indian Adoption Project and why Indigenous placement with white families was preferred by the government. She also shares some of the current action in the US courts to undermine and remove the Indian Child Welfare Act and why it is so critical for us to pay attention to the cascading effects this could have. We do get personal too, about what happene...
Oct 15, 2021•45 min•Ep. 192
Today’s guest is Dr. Erin Heim who has spent a decade of her life researching and examining both the biblical texts in the New Testament that mention adoption as well as multiple books written from an evangelical perspective of adoption promotion. Erin teaches us what adoption looked like during the first century, and spoiler alert - it’s nothing like modern-day adoption. Erin and I also put a critical lens to how adoptees are treated in the church today, and how conflating biblical metaphors of...
Oct 08, 2021•57 min•Ep. 191
I am thrilled to bring you Barbara Sumner today. Her literary memoir Tree of Strangers is one of the best books I read this year (and I’m including my non-adoption-related reading in that). Barbara and I talk about some of the painful experiences she recounts in her book. We also talk about some of the issues facing the adoptee community today, including Barbara’s perspective on adoption reform vs. the complete abolition of adoption. Full Show Notes Here Share your voice for Adoptee Remembrance ...
Oct 01, 2021•54 min•Ep. 190
Today’s guest is brilliant poet Tiana Nobile whose recent collection of poems Cleave is an exceptional exploration of transnational adoption. Tiana shares her story with us from the deeply personal struggles to her in-depth research on the problematic history of adoption. Tiana also teaches us about contranyms and you’ll be in awe of the perfection of the title Cleave when she unpacks that for us. Full Show Notes Here Recommended Resources Cleave by Tiana Nobile, Spirit of the Staircase by Tiana...
Sep 24, 2021•50 min•Ep. 189
We’re celebrating five years of podcasting with a special Ask Me Anything episode. Listeners submitted questions for me (Haley) from “what are your plans for the coming season of Adoptees On?” to “where would you invest a million dollars to help the cause of adoptees?” I also share a bit about this amazing leaf-teardrop hybrid painted by JS Lee. Full Show Notes Here Mentioned Today My story way back in season 1 Barbara Sumner’s book - Tree of Strangers Episode 32 - How to choose a therapist Adop...
Sep 17, 2021•52 min•Ep. 188
