Adoption & Beyond Podcast

In this powerful episode of Adoption & Beyond, Alyse and Nicole sit down with Dr. Nancy Grechko, a licensed clinical psychologist and founder of Grechko Training & Consulting. She explores the deeply personal and professional sides of fertility struggles — the grief, the hope, and the complicated decisions that often follow. Dr. Grechko shares her own experience with fertility and how that...

In this episode of Adoption & Beyond , Alyse and Nicole step out from behind the mic as hosts and into the spotlight to share their personal and professional journeys as social workers at Adoptions From The Heart. They open up about what led them to the field of social work, their experiences supporting birth and adoptive families, and the challenges and rewards of working in adoption. From th...

In this episode of Adoption & Beyond, we sit down with Angela Tucker, a transracial adoptee, educator, and advocate, to discuss her journey growing up as a Black adoptee in a white family. Adopted through a closed adoption and raised in a predominantly white town in Washington, Angela always longed for connection to her roots but faced systemic barriers, including state laws requiring her to b...

2025 podcast season with a special episode reflecting on our journey over the past four decades. This milestone episode will explore how AFTH has grown, adapted, and evolved to meet the changing needs of adoptive families, birth parents, and adoptees.  Joining us is AFTH's visionary Founder and adoptee, Maxine Chalker, who will share her inspiring story of establishing AFTH and her experiences...

In this episode of Adoption & Beyond , Nicole and Alyse are joined by Dr. Michael Stokes, a licensed professional counselor with Doctorate in Professional Counseling and Supervision and the CEO of Stokes Counseling. Dr. Stokes is also an adoptive father, having adopted twice through AFTH with his husband. During this conversation, Dr. Stokes shares his personal adoption journey, offers profess...

In this episode of Adoption & Beyond , Nicole and Alyse sit down with Isaac Etter, a transracial adoptee, social entrepreneur, and the founder of Identity , a groundbreaking organization re-imagining post-placement support for adoptive and foster families. Isaac shares his personal adoption story and the experiences that inspired him to become a passionate advocate for adoptees and their famil...

In this episode of Adoption & Beyond , hosts Alyse and Nicole sit down with experienced social workers who have worked in both the foster care system and private adoption agencies. Our guests share unique insights into the differences between these two systems, explore common myths, and discuss the challenges families may face when deciding between foster care and private adoption. They also a...

In this episode of Adoption & Beyond, Alyse and Nicole sit down with Chelsea and Randi of Grands Stepping Up, an organization dedicated to supporting kinship caregivers—grandparents and other relatives who step up to care for children within their families. They share invaluable insights into the unique challenges and rewards of kinship adoption, the resources available to help these families...

In this episode of Adoption & Beyond Podcast we sat down with Amanda Aliberti and Sheila Kowit , AFTH social workers, to talk about pregnancy options counseling and placing non-newborn children for adoption. For more information about AFTH services for expecting and birth parents you can go to afth.org/pregnant.

In this episode of Adoption & Beyond we were joined by Jessica Anne Pressler and Jennifer Conn. Jessica is an author, psychotherapist and social worker and Jennifer is a psychotherapist and licensed social worker who specializes in working with young people. During the episodes Jessica and Jennifer shared about their experience growing up as an adoptees and how their adoption impacted their li...

In this enlightening episode of Adoption & Beyond, we delve into the crucial topic of supporting LGBTQIA+ youth. Join us as we welcome Phii Regis from the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) and All Children-All Families, the largest LGBTQIA+ advocacy group in the United States. Phii brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to our discussion, offering valuable insights on how parents can create a s...

In this episode of Adoption & Beyond, Nicole and Alyse sat with Kristy, AFTH's Director of Marketing and Communications to speak about their experience as mothers. They spoke frankly on their highs and lows of motherhood. Some of the topics discussed are: postpartum depression, post partum anxiety, how being a mother affects their work in the adoption field and much more.

In this episode episode of Adoption & Beyond Podcast, we interviews three people who went through infertility and then decided to move on to adopting children. During this episode our guests speak about the raw emotions, the ups and the downs, and their grief journeys through their #infertility, as well as the adoption process.

Welcome to our new and improved podcast Adoption & Beyond. On this episode of the podcast we introduce our new name and new segments of the podcast. We are also now on VIDEO! If you would like to see the episode head over to our YouTube Channel @Adoption&BeyondPodcast. In celebration of March being National Social Work Month, we got together with three amazing guests: Jackie, Christian and...

Grief is a natural response to loss, but it can be a difficult emotion to navigate. In this podcast episode, we are joined by grief counselor Jenn Oglesbee to discuss misconceptions about grief, coping strategies, and healthy ways to process emotions. You can learn more about Jenn Oglesbee and the work she does by visiting her website at  www.jennoglesbee.com Subscribe to her newsletter, "The...

TW: This episode has topics of pregnancy loss and transracial adoption. If these topics trigger you, please feel free to skip this episode. In this episode of a Heart to Heart with Adoptions From The Heart podcast, we invited Emily Hogar. Emily is an adoptive mother from our Central PA office and a midwife. Emily adopted her daughter in 2019 with her husband. We want to take time to talk to Emily...

In This episode, we sit down with Vaughn and Marvin, two adoptive dads, as they share their journey as a same-sex couple navigating the open adoption process. We discuss their experiences, similarities, and differences in adopting a newborn vs. an older child placement(a two-year-old). We also dive into the many hurdles faced with finalization, navigating transitions from one household to another,...

On this episode of A Heart-to-Heart with Adoptions From The Heart, we are excited to welcome Leya, a Senior Social Worker at ChristianaCare in Delaware who provides supportive services to expecting parents. We are also joined by Amanda Aliberti who is an Adoption Counselor and Supervisor as well as the Expecting and Birth Parent Services Manager at Adoptions From The Heart. Adoptions From The Hear...

On this episode of A Heart-to-Heart with Adoptions From The Heart podcast we wanted to take a time a highlight the voices of people in the military community with ties to adoption. May is Military Appreciation month, so on this episode we talked the challenges of placing a child for adoption, adopting a child or being an adoption social worker while being a service member or a military spouse. Dur...

In this episode of a Heart-to-Heart with Adoptions From The Heart podcast, we are joined by two couples: Jim & Racheal and Rob & Sam. They joined this episode to share about their infertility journey and ultimately choosing adoption to build their family. In this episode, we touched on infertility diagnosis, impacts on infertility on a persons mental health, supporting your partner through...

On this episode of a Heart-to-Heart with Adoptions From The Heart podcast we have five adoption social workers from different AFTH offices come together to talk about their experience in the adoption field. With March being Social Work Month we wanted to take a moment to recognize and highlight the lives of the people that make organization run smoothly everyday. Stephanie, Alyse, Ryle, Jackie and...

In this episode of A Heart-to-Heart with Adoptions From The Heart podcast with sat down with Kelly Ellison, Founder and CEO of Your Adoption Finance Coach to answer all you adoption financial questions. In this question and answer episode, we went over adoption tax credits, fundraising for an adoption, grants and loans offered to prospective adoptive parents and much more.  Listen to this epi...

In this episode of a Heart-to-Heart with Adoptions From The Heart podcast we wanted to bring you the recording of the LIVE episode we had in November. This time we brought six adoption influencers to talk about their experiences sharing their adoption stories with the world. We were so honored to have had Ashley Mitchel, Taylor Shennett, Grace Otley, Isaac Etter, Courtney Tierra and Melissa Guida-...

In this Special episode of our National Adoption Month: Marketing Takeover, we are joined by Councilmember At-Large, Mrs. Katherine Gilmore Richardson, for a very warm episode! During this discussion we touch on her life growing up as an adoptee, finding out she was adopted, searching for her birth family, and how her religious beliefs have kept her grounded and played such a huge role in her succ...

In this episode of Heart-to-Heart with Adoptions From The Heart Podcast, we sat down with Kyle, Chantel and Katy to talk about their experience as Birth Parents. Often times people think that there is no life after placement for Birth Parents, but in this episode, we dive into the before, during and after placing their children from adoption. We discussed the reasons why they placed, infertility a...