Adrian Burks is currently working on a documentary called Finding Home which is a search for honest answers about family and identity. Adrian documents three adopted people (including himself) as he explores the different stages of connection with their adoptive and biological parents. He is also a dynamic and rising talent in the world of film and television, known for his natural charisma, emotional depth, and powerful screen presence. With a growing body of work that spans drama, comedy, and ...
Jul 07, 2025•58 min
In this episode, Heather Sachs courageously dives into the issues surrounding adoption loss. Here are her words: I am adopted and see myself as a disrupter as well. The more we put our stories out there, the more we can change the narrative to being adoptee focused! I was adopted at two when my mother relinquished me to her then boss. Like many others, I didn’t even know that adoption/relinquishment was trauma until a therapist told me so. Only at that point was I able to start the journey repar...
Jun 06, 2025•48 min
Dr. Deborah Sweet is a licensed Psychologist who specializes in adults recovering from childhood trauma. To treat trauma she uses Somatic Experiencing, EMDR, Brainspotting, the Havening Technique, IFS and the pit model. She is also certified coach for personal growth. Before her career in mental health, she worked in the music and film businesses. She was the founder of the Trauma Counseling Center of Los Angeles and is currently working on a book. Click here to send us a text. Also, our book “P...
Mar 14, 2025•1 hr 3 min
Trigger warning: In honor of Joshua’s life, Nicholas Fontana agreed to film with PBTR a few years ago to share his experience of losing his adopted friend Joshua to suicide. I ran into Nicholas at a mutual friends party a few weeks ago. Everything fell away as we began to speak about the effort to heal and all of the ways he has made progress. I asked Nicholas if he would be willing to be on the podcast to talk about the ideas he shared during our conversation. This led me to think about how to ...
Mar 01, 2025•1 hr
Ashley is a 40-year-old wife and mother of three. Originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Ashley moved to New York City after college and has remained in the area ever since. She now resides in South Orange, NJ, a town she loves. She enjoys a balance of yoga and tennis and cherishes her friends and close-knit community. Professionally, Ashley holds a hybrid role that blends project management and executive support, allowing her to work primarily from home, a flexibility that's especially valua...
Feb 16, 2025•1 hr 3 min
Scott, a high school math teacher from New Jersey, placed his daughter for adoption in the 1980s after a teenage pregnancy. In 2002, he reunited with her through an online search. Scott has three other children who were also part of the reunion. Lena, a domestic closed adoptee from New Jersey/New York, was adopted in the 1980s and raised as an only child by a family unable to have children. She reunited with her paternal biological family in 2002 and has attempted to contact her birth mother twi...
Feb 01, 2025•1 hr 4 min
Find our book using this link: Pulled By The Root Bessel van der Kolk is a Dutch psychiatrist, author, researcher and educator. Since the 1970s his research has been in the area of post-traumatic stress. He is the author of The New York Times best seller book “The Body Keeps the Score.” He has spent his career studying how children and adults adapt to traumatic experiences, and has translated emerging findings from neuroscience and attachment research to develop and study a range of treatments f...
Jan 11, 2025•57 min
Anna Maria DiDio, MSW - is an adoptive mother and children’s author whose adoption-themed books encourage open and honest conversation between parents and children. Anna Maria was inspired to write her memoir, Love at the Border, An Adoption Adventure after her own family journey to Mexico. Now her L.I.F.E.* Adventures children’s books feature stories about adoption from the point of view of the child. Anna Maria holds a BA in Psychology from Villanova University and an MSW in Family Specializat...
Dec 31, 2024•53 min
We know the holidays can be a whiplash of emotions for our community. Elle Klassen has spent months recording long form conversations. Our amazing returning guests are: Moses Farrow, Megan Galbraith, Anne Heffron, Robert and Ken. This series is our gift to you! Pulled By The Root is so grateful to our loyal and brave audience. May you be comforted in knowing you are not alone! Click here to send us a text. Also, our book “Pulled By The Root” is available at https://www.pulledbytheroot.com/book h...
Dec 25, 2024•1 hr 37 min
We know the holidays can be a whiplash of emotions for our community. Elle Klassen has spent months recording long form conversations. Our amazing returning guests are: Moses Farrow, Megan Galbraith, Anne Heffron, Robert and Ken. This series is our gift to you! Pulled By The Root is so grateful to our loyal and brave audience. May you be comforted in knowing you are not alone! Click here to send us a text. Also, our book “Pulled By The Root” is available at https://www.pulledbytheroot.com/book h...
Dec 24, 2024•43 min
We know the holidays can be a whiplash of emotions for our community. Elle Klassen has spent months recording long form conversations. Our amazing returning guests are: Moses Farrow, Megan Galbraith, Anne Heffron, Robert and Ken. This series is our gift to you! Pulled By The Root is so grateful to our loyal and brave audience. May you be comforted in knowing you are not alone! Click here to send us a text. Also, our book “Pulled By The Root” is available at https://www.pulledbytheroot.com/book h...
Dec 24, 2024•1 hr 10 min
We know the holidays can be a whiplash of emotions for our community. Elle Klassen has spent months recording long form conversations. Our amazing returning guests are: Moses Farrow, Megan Galbraith, Anne Heffron, Robert and Ken. This series is our gift to you! Pulled By The Root is so grateful to our loyal and brave audience. May you be comforted in knowing you are not alone! Click here to send us a text. Also, our book “Pulled By The Root” is available at https://www.pulledbytheroot.com/book h...
Dec 24, 2024•1 hr 46 min
Julie Brumley is a domestic infant adoptee who was adopted seven weeks after birth in 1973, following four relinquishments during that time. Her birth mother had attempted to abort her twice, between 12 and 16 weeks of pregnancy. Julie only became fully aware of the influence of the primal trauma she experienced about three and a half years ago, though her journey began in 2010. At that time, a professor in her master's counseling program pointed out that unresolved issues related to her adoptio...
Dec 06, 2024•58 min
In her first career, Zelly was a social worker in the adoption and foster care field. From there, she owned an online retail store specializing in hand-painted children’s gifts and party favors. Along the way, Zelly volunteered and raised funds for several non-profit organizations. In an alternate universe, she is probably an event planner. But once she moved to New York City, Zelly gave in to the compulsion to write women’s fiction spiced with suspense about motherhood, relationships, loss and ...
Nov 23, 2024•38 min
Cathy Terkanian is the subject of the new Netflix documentary “Into the Fire: The Lost Daughter.” When Cathy received word that the daughter she gave up for adoption many years ago had disappeared, Cathy embarked on an extraordinary and tenacious journey to find her, steered by the unbeatable bond of a mother and child to discover the truth. The horror of what happened to her daughter is unimaginable. In a recent post Cathy wrote on her daughter’s photo, “My name is Alexis, my adopted name was A...
Nov 09, 2024•30 min
Mark Wills is a true definition of what it means to turn trauma into triumph. He is one of the highest producing notary loan signing agents in the country. Owner of a national loan signing service, best selling author and the course instructor of Loan Signing System, the premier notary signing agent training to thousands of people coast to coast. Mark was born in Korea and given up for adoption at the age of two years old, only to be returned and put into the foster care system. Mark was then wa...
Oct 12, 2024•53 min
Paul Fiscus, a devoted natural father, brings a unique perspective to the discussion on adoption and custody rights. His personal experiences have propelled him to become a passionate advocate for the rights of natural fathers. Paul's unwavering determination and in-depth understanding of the legal intricacies surrounding adoption highlight the hurdles that natural fathers can sometimes encounter. His insights and commitment to creating change in the treatment of natural fathers make him an inva...
Sep 28, 2024•47 min
Sarah Reinhardt and Louise Browne, two adult adoptees and former business partners who had a successful ice cream truck in Los Angeles, team up again — this time in frank and honest conversations about adoption, centered on the adoptee experience. Each season Sarah and Louise recap a chapter from a book focused on adoption and then interview a fellow adoptee. Sarah and Louise came out of the 'fog' in real-time through Seasons One and Two and are advocating for change in the adoption industry. Fo...
Sep 01, 2024•53 min
Simon Benn was adopted at 5 weeks old, and is the founder of “Thriving Adoptees” podcast that honorably focuses on the issues adopted people face. Simon came out of the fog at 40 years old, and all was going well until he discovered that his teddy bear was a gift from his birth mother. This unleashed an eruption of anger, and feelings of rejection and of being unloved for Simon. This put him on his journey to heal and help others. 15 years later, Simon continues to support adoptees through his p...
Aug 16, 2024•51 min
In this episode, our guest who wishes to remain anonymous shares her story with remarkable detail and honesty. The death of her adopted sister Susie motivated her to become an advocate for adoptees. Her journey began in 1953 when her 19-year-old mother, under pressure from relatives, gave her up for adoption. Anne was adopted at birth through a private arrangement. At 18 months old, her adoptive parents introduced Susie, another adopted child, into their family. Anne’s upbringing in the Philadel...
Jul 29, 2024•1 hr 6 min
“Mae Mae” is an adopted person who leads a double life as a teacher and songwriter anchored in the Northwoods with a heart rooted in the West. During the school day she’s building resiliency with her middle schoolers, knee deep in equal parts shenanigans and hope. On her lunch breaks and down time, she gets muddy in song and tales with her various ensembles and creative companions. She savors shore time, quiet time with her hubby, listening to music, and writing it, all of it, down. In this epis...
Jul 13, 2024•56 min
Stephen Rowley, Ph.D., is a psychotherapist practicing in Bainbridge Island, Washington. His professional past includes serving as an elementary school teacher and principal, and a school district superintendent in Washington and California. He has been a college professor at three universities, teaching courses in educational administration and organizational theory. He holds a Ph.D. in Administration and Policy Analysis from Stanford University. His new book is: The Lost Coin: A Memoir of Adop...
Jun 28, 2024•49 min
Gretchen Sisson, Ph.D. is a qualitative sociologist who studies abortion and adoption in the United States. She is a researcher at Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco. Gretchen’s studies on adoption include hundreds of in-depth interviews with women who have relinquished infants for domestic adoption over the past sixty years, with a particular focus on women who have r...
Jun 08, 2024•54 min
Carl Niedzielski, named John DellaPenna at birth, was born in Western Massachusetts during the Baby Scoop Era of the late 1960s, and was relinquished and then adopted at some point at or soon after birth. Due to the low birthweight documented on his original birth certificate, it is assumed he spent time in NICU and also probably in foster care or in an orphanage such as the one operated by the agency that managed his adoption, Brightside for Children. As he has learned more about the impact of ...
May 15, 2024•51 min
Kevin Berthia’s journey as a suicide survivor, adoptee, advocate, and speaker encapsulates the human spirit's capacity for redemption and renewal. From enduring silent suffering through his youth to a very public suicide attempt at the Golden Gate Bridge, Kevin's narrative is one of profound transformation. Since 2013, he has shared his experiences with unwavering candor, captivating audiences worldwide with his authenticity and vulnerability. As a sought-after public speaker and fervent advocat...
May 14, 2024•53 min
Patti Eddington is a newspaper and magazine journalist whose favorite job ever was interviewing the famous authors who came through town on book tours. She never dreamed of writing about her life because she was too busy helping build her husband’s veterinary practice, caring for her animal obsessed daughter—whose favorite childhood toy was an inflatable tick—and learning to tap dance. Then fate, and a DNA test, led her to a story she felt compelled to tell. Today, the mid-century modern design ...
May 02, 2024•53 min
Sabrina is an adopted person with many questions, her story begins in Texas where she was born and adopted illegally. She was abused the entire time she was with her adopters. After years of therapy and healing Sabrina tried to reach out to the state of Texas to get her original birth certificate without success. Her story takes so many twists and turns, including an overnight runaway mission to keep her out of the hands of authorities and her step father. On April 22nd, 2003 Sabrina ran to find...
Apr 20, 2024•1 hr 5 min
Jeff Forney is an adoptee and an LA based photographer focusing on advertising, music and celebrity. He is in reunion-currently working on a project in the adoptee world called the ‘Innocent People Project’ where he aims to share the adoptee experience. In this powerful episode, Jeff speaks to the issues surrounding adoption with deep compassion. He believes in the power of human stories and the healing it can create. Jeff feels a non-adoptee’s view on adoption is not an adoptee’s view on adopti...
Apr 05, 2024•52 min
Monica Hall is an adoptee and birth mother. She is also the author of her memoir, "Practically Still a Virgin”, which will be released on Saturday March 23rd. Born in Canada, she was adopted by American parents and raised in Anchorage, Alaska, where she spent the first sixteen years of her life and had many of the foundational experiences that drive her writing. She is a business consultant and entrepreneur who has founded several companies and has worked in advertising and marketing for more th...
Mar 22, 2024•53 min
George is a filmmaker, writer/director living in Los Angeles. One of the first questions he is frequently asked is "where is your accent from?" Here it goes, George was born in 1974, in Russia (Soviet Union). He was adopted from an orphanage in 1976 and raised in Georgia (the country). In 2000, he migrated to Australia and was granted a gay refuge status. Since 2010 he splits his time between Los Angeles and Sydney, Australia. George is on a life long search of his birth history, and as of today...
Mar 09, 2024•47 min
