The Adoption Files

Please join me as i speak with: Lynne Miller, Late Discovery Adoptee and writer at the blog adopteerevelations.com Laureen Pittman: adoptee, author of the Lies that Bind Andrea Coates: adoptee ally, search angel and LCSW Lynn Grubb: adoptee, adoptee advocate, author of Hidden Identity Plenary Adoption: plenary adoption, as practiced in many places including the United States, is a form of adoption...

Dr. Kristy Howell is an adult adoptee in reunion. She was born and adopted in the sealed state of Mississippi. She is a Sustainability expert and trained historian. Kristy can be found at @kwittman on twitter and on instagram. Mentioned in the show: Mississippi adoption laws: adopteerightslaw.com ISRR: International Soundex Reunion Registry: International Soundex Reunion Registry - ISRR  This used...

Please join me as I speak with Renee Gelin, mom of a son lost to an unnecessary adoption. She is also the founder and president of the organization, Saving our Sisters. Renee and I discuss her experience with the adoption industry, which motivated her to advocate for other women in crisis. Renee is an avid ally of adoptees as well.  Renees' organization can be found at savingoursistersad...

Andrea is a licensed clinical social worker. She is also a search angel with the Search Squad. Andrea was one of the first people I interviewed when I began this podcast. A non-adoptee, or Kept person, Andrea has devoted a great deal of energy to an intentional exploration of adoptees lived experience. Through countless hours of reading adoptee memoir, blogs and articles; listening to podcasts and...

The host shares a few thoughts on adoption and birthdays and gotcha days.

Laureen Pitman is a Baby Scoop Era adoptee, born and raised in the closed state of California. Laureen is the author of the memoir The Lies that Bind. She is active in the adoptee community, writing for her blog adoptionmytruth.com, participating in roundtables like The Red Couch Rebuttal, contributing to the anthology The Adoptee Survival Guide, and in other projects.  Mentioned in the podcast: C...

A thank you to those who worked so hard on behalf of Vermont adoptees, and a plea to see other states follow their lead. Vermont is only the eleventh state to allow adoptees access to their original documents.

The host delivers a short rant on the awfulness of advertising for babies. Contact your legislators if you live in a state where independent advertising for children is allowed. Use the convenient map provided by (the enemy), at Our Chosen Baby. Just google States where advertising for babies is allowed.

This episode is also available as a blog post: https://theadoptionfilescom.wordpress.com/2021/11/17/in-the-market/. A brief talk about white, grey and black market adoptions, the situation with Ukraine, and a disturbing list of the twenty easiest places to adopt. Disclaimer: the host is jot a lawyer. The hosts opinions are just opinions, even if she did look this shit up and finds it highly offens...

The host of the podcast talks briefly about what Open Adoption is, and is not. Have thoughts on the topic? Please comment on the blog at theadoptionfilescom. Wordpress.com

Join the host, Ande Stanley, as they are interviewed by Lynn Grubb. We talk a bit about my experience as a UK adoptee, and a lot about the complexities of pursuing our identities.  Lynn Grubb is the editor of the Adoptee Anthology, The Adoptee Survival Guide. She is the author of the memoir Hidden Identity. She is The Adopted Genealogist on Facebook. Her memoir can be found in podcast form at: the...

Victoria Bond was born and adopted in the state of Kentucky. Please join us as we talk about the difficulties of applying for documents in a closed state, and how Victorias experience motivated her to become a Search Angel for other adoptees. Victoria is a small business owner as well. She can be found at Made by Victoria: https://www.facebook.com/madebyvictoriabond Mentioned in the show: Kentucky...

The host does a bit of ranting about the many reasons given for denying adoptees access to our documents, including the rationale that adoption is not a trauma, and biology can be transgressed.

Mary Constance is an adoptee from Ohio. Mary is preparing to walk across America to bring attention to the inequity faced by adoptees in seeking access to our original birth certificates.  Mentioned in the show: Ohio adoptee access to records: https://odh.ohio.gov/wps/portal/gov/odh/know-our-programs/vital-statistics/Adoption-File-Information/Adoption-File-Information The Chosen Baby: a...

The host talks about her adoptive parents plans to run away with her, if her family had attempted to reclaim her.

Margaret is an adoptee from Ontario, Canada. Margaret is a kinship adoptee, who did not discover until she was older that her adoptive family is her family.  She is the author of two books:  Adoption: The Truth Comes Out, and Overwhelmed by God's Grace, Uncovering the Truth about Adoption.  Margaret has a podcast: Maggie Closet Chats, on Spotify Mentioned in the podcast: Ontario, Ca...

What can we do when we listen to a podcast and feel triggered by what we encounter?

The Georgia Alliance for Adoptee Rights was founded by Jamie Weiss and Courtney Humbaugh to advocate for the rights of all Georgia adoptees to unrestricted access to their original birth documents.  Georgia Alliance for Adoptee Rights can be found at: Gaallianceforadopteerights.org* Info@gaallianceforadopteerights.org FB.com/gaadopteerights Instagram.com/gaadopteerights Mentioned in the show...

Please join me as I speak with Jamie Weiss; professional photographer, writer and adoptee rights activist. She is one of the co-founders of the Georgia Alliance for Adoptee Rights. Jamie Weiss was born in Virginia, but adopted in the state of Georgia.  Jamie can be found at: signedsealedadopted.com signedsealedadopted@gmail.com fb.com/signedsealedadopted instagram.com/signedsealedadopted Ment...

Please join me as I speak with Emma Stevens, domestic adoptee and author of the newly released memoir, The Gathering Place.  Emma's book can be found on Amazon, including on Audible, where Emma narrates her book.  Emma is a U.S. domestic adoptee from birth. She has survived layers of trauma that have put her on multiple journeys. She developed the inner strength and courage to surmount t...

Daryn Watson was born and adopted in Alberta, Canada. Daryn is an Adoption Reunion Coach and also writes a blog, The Adoptee Mind. He has been a guest on Jennifer Dyan Ghostons podcast Once Upon a Time in Adopteeland, and on Julie Jackson and Richard Castles podcast Cut-off Genes.  Daryn can be found at Adoption Reunion Coaching on Facebook, and on his blog, The Adoptee Mind (also on FB)...

Anne is an adoptee from Nebraska. She is currently at work writing a fiction-ish novel that treats adoptees from an adoption-informed perspective. She is also participating in an anthology related to her membership in the group Flourish, headed by Pam Cordano and Anne Heffron.  Mentioned in the show: Adoptee Chameleon: adoptees are sometimes described as chameleons, given we often learn to co...

Kirsten Weatherford was born and adopted in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania has some very odd eligibility requirements for adoptees seeking access to their documents. Join me as Kirsten and I talk about these requirements, her personal journey in requesting her adoption file, and her efforts to be present for young adoptees.  Kirsten is the author of the book Finding My Way Home. She was a guest o...

Please join me as I talk with Deborah Yemm, author of the blog Missing Mom. Deborah is the child of adoptees, who sought to honor her parents and find her own history by applying for documents from the states of Tennessee and Texas. Deborahs story: Mentioned in the podcast: Tennessee Childrens' Home Society: an orphanage that existed in the state of Tennessee during the first half of the twentieth...

Jamie Nagy is an Illinois adoptee. Jamie lives in Ohio, with her husband and their two dogs. Jamie has a Masters degree in English with an emphasis in Creative Nonfiction. You can read some of Jamies' work at adoptiontriaddance.wordpress.com, and by going to openprairie.sdstate.edu Composing a Literary Adoption Memoir and Self Through Creative Nonfiction Memoir Writing (sdstate.edu) Mentioned...