The Adoption Files

I did a scary thing. Now I am doing another scary thing and sharing some impressions from attending the annual retreat for Concerned United Birthparents without relistening or editing or anything! Because, why not? https://concernedunitedbirthparents.org/ https://savingoursistersadoption.org/ https://thefamilypreservationproject.com/ https://www.adopteeson.com/ https://www.adopteesffp.org/ https:/...

What does Adoption Abolition mean? Please join me and my guest Lorah Gerald as we talk about some of our thoughts on this topic. Lorah is a Baby Scoop Era, Domestic US adopted person. She can be found athttps://lorahgerald.com/ There are some statistics quoted in the episode that may be difficult to believe, and hard to find. This is because they change from year to year, and the way you input you...

Please join Dani and I as we continue our conversation about adoption and spiritual trauma. We are using the book Holy Hurt: Spiritual Trauma and the Process of Healing by Hillary L McBride PhD as a scaffold for our conversation. Dani is a mother of loss to adoption, a writer, a homesteader and an advocate for the rights of mothers and adopted people. She can be found at: https://medium.com/@danij...

Please join Dani Joy and I as we keep working on exploring the spiritual trauma that is adoption! We are using the book Holy Hurt by Hillary L McBride, PhD as a scaffold for our conversation Dani Joy is a mother of loss to adoption, a homesteader, a writer and an ally. She can be found at: https://medium.com/@danijoy https://substack.com/@danijoy https://www.facebook.com/joyfuldj https://www.hilla...

Please join us as we continue our conversation about spiritual trauma and adoption from our perspectives as an adoptee and as a mother who terminated her parental rights for the purposes of adoption. We are using the book Holy Hurt: Understanding Spiritual Trauma and the Process of Healing as a scaffold. You can find Dani Joy at: https://www.facebook.com/joyfuldj https://substack.com/@danijoy/note...

Please join me and my guest Dani Joy as we continue our conversation on spiritual trauma and adoption, from the perspectives of an adopted person and a mother of loss to adoption. We are using the book Holy Hurt by Hillary L McBride PhD as a guide for our discussion. https://medium.com/@danijoy https://www.hillarylmcbride.com/holy-hurt https://youtu.be/3e0-SsmOUJI?si=LfXUJu2f59sjqdTh https://www.h...

Please join Dani Joy and me, Ande, as we continue to discuss spiritual trauma and adoption, with the book Holy Hurt by Hilary McBride PhD as a scaffold. The foundation has been established, and now we are beginning the section of the book that discusses actively processing our trauma. We are working through this in real time, unscripted. Let us know if any of this feels familiar! Dani is a mother...

Yes, I am terrible at titles, and hate to mislead. Just laying that out there. Dani Joy, mother of loss to adoption and me, late discovery adopted person (as well as an intercountry adoptee from foster care in the UK to the US) continue to talk about deconstructing from the adoption narrative and from religious and spiritual trauma. What do they have to do with each other? Family loss is a profoun...

Hi! Please join me and my guest host Dani Joy as we continue with the next section of our conversation on spiritual trauma from our perspectives as a mother of loss to adoption and as a late discovery adopted person, raised in white, Christian contexts. Dani Joy is a mom and a homesteader. She can be found at:https://medium.com/@danijoy https://www.hillarylmcbride.com/holy-hurt Mentioned in the ep...

Please join us as we continue our conversation around spiritual trauma and adoption as we work our way through the book Holy Hurt: Understanding Spiritual Trauma and the Process of Healing by Hillary L McBride PhD . Todays' episode explores the concept of spiritual bypassing as a coping mechanism to avoid feeling our core emotions. Joining me again today is Dani Joy, mom, homesteader, exvangel...

Please join Dani Joy and I as we delve into the core emotions and how we are born with these crucial forms of communication. We continue to explore how adoption and spiritual trauma intersect, using the book Holly Hurt as a framework for our discussion. Dani Joy can be found at: https://medium.com/@danijoy https://hillarylmcbride.com/holy-hurt-book/ Mentioned in the episode: https://www.relinquish...

Please join Dani Joy and I as we continue our conversation about spiritual trauma and adoption. We are using the book Holy Hurt: Understanding Spiritual Trauma and the Process of Healing by Hillary L McBride, PhD as a scaffold for our conversation. We just started Chapter 5! How do the roles of victim, villain and rescuer play out in your life? What do they have to do with spiritual trauma? With a...

Please join Dani Joy and me as we continue to discuss spiritual trauma and adoption. I am a Late Discovery, Intercountry adopted person. Dani is a mother of loss to adoption. Dani can be found at https://medium.com/@danijoy https://hillarylmcbride.com/holy-hurt-book/ https://health.clevelandclinic.org/generational-trauma https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12220155/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.g...

Please join Dani Joy and I as we continue to explore spiritual trauma using the book Holy Hurt by Hillary L McBride Phd as a scaffold for our discussion. How might these spiritual wounds relate to Dani's experience as a mother of loss to adoption? How has my being an adopted person been shaped by spiritual trauma? In this installment we talk about the return to the familiar, even when the fami...

Please join Dani Joy and I as we discuss the section What we need from the beginning, from the book Holy Hurt by Hilary L McBride, PhD. Dani is a mother of loss to adoption, as well as a homesteader, advocate and writer. Dani can be found at: https://medium.com/@danijoy https://hillarylmcbride.com/holy-hurt-book/ https://www.healthcentral.com/mental-health/get-help-mental-health The opinions of th...

California Alliance For Adoptee Rights and Senator Wahab have a bill being heard in the Health Committee this Tuesday, 23 June 2026. They need you to call the members of the Health Committee to ask that they vote yes on the bill as it is written, without amendments. Please follow the link to find a script and the phone numbers of the members of the Health Committee. https://www.facebook.com/CAadop...

Please join me and Dani Joy as we continue our conversation about the intersection of spiritual trauma and adoption. We are talking trauma, just nonstop, processing! It's so fun. Come have fun with us! We are using the book Holy Hurt; Understanding Spiritual Trauma and the Process of Healing as a scaffold for our conversations. Dani can be found at: https://medium.com/@danijoy I can be found h...

Please join me and Dani Joy as we continue to address spiritual trauma from our lived experience as a mother of loss to adoption and as a late discovery adopted person. Dani can be found at: https://medium.com/@danijoy https://hillarylmcbride.com/holy-hurt-book/ https://www.healthcentral.com/mental-health/get-help-mental-health The opinions of the host and their guest are just that- their opinions...

Please join me for my conversation with Jean Kelly Widner, a domestically adopted person who is the author of The Adoption Paradox: Putting Adoption in Perspective. Jean is a Baby Scoop Era adopted person from Washington who has found herself as an Accidental Tourist in the paradox that is living adopted. https://adoptionparadox.com/ Mentioned in the episode: https://boothcampus.salvationarmy.org/...

Please join Dani Joy and I as we continue our conversation about spiritual trauma using the book Holy Hurt by Hilary L McBride PhD as a guide as we explore how this has impacted us as a mother of loss to adoption and as an adopted person. Both Dani and I come from a Christian religious tradition, and we speak to our own lived experience as people deconstructing from religion and from the adoption...

Please join me and mom Dani Joy as we wrap up chapter 3 in our discussion of spiritual trauma using the book Holy Hurt by Hilary L McBride PhD as a guide. In this episode we talk about how leaving can end up being more of the same, and why that happens. We also talk about characteristics of marginalized groups that intersect with our experiences with adoption. Dani can be found at: https://medium....

Please join Dani Joy and me as we continue our conversation on spiritual trauma using the book Holy Hurt: understandin spiritual trauma and the process of healing by Hillary McBride, PhD Dani can be found at https://medium.com/@danijoy Holy Hurt: https://hillarylmcbride.com/holy-hurt-book/ https://scienceinsights.org/what-is-ecological-systems-theory-and-why-it-matters/ https://www.healthcentral.c...

Hi! This is me, stream-of-thought-ing my way through a monologue on one of my least favorite days of the year. Enjoy! The host is not a therapist, a lawyer or an adoption professional. The opinions of the host are just that, their opinions. Thank you for listening.

Please join me as Dani and I talk about the journey so far, in our conversation about spiritual trauma and how we got here. Dani can be found at: https://medium.com/@danijoy If you are in crisis and need to talk, please reach out to one (or more) of the helplines listed in the link. You matter. https://www.healthcentral.com/mental-health/get-help-mental-health The opinions of the host and their gu...

Please join Dani and I as we continue our conversation using the book Holy Hurt: Understanding Spiritual Trauma and the Process of Healing by Hillary L McBride as a guide to exploring how spiritual trauma and adoption intersect in our lives as a mother of loss and as an adopted person. Dani can be found at: https://medium.com/@danijoy https://hillarylmcbride.com/holy-hurt-book/ https://mhanational...