Adopt Perspective Adoption Podcast

Today’s guest is an adoptee born in the late sixties under the closed adoption system and a cloud of secrecy. Tracy Shand searched for and reunited with her mother and sister at the age of twenty-four, finding the relationships complex to maintain over time. At the age of forty-five she did a commercial DNA test to find her father and 3 years later found success. Tracy is sharing her personal stor...

Benjamin Kelleher was adopted from Brazil in the city of Belo Horizonte and was brought to Australia in 1989 at the age of 13 months. He was one of 5000 children in the orphanage at the time of his adoption. Benjamin grew up on the sunny beaches of the Gold Coast in Queensland and recently shared his experience of intercountry adoption in a series of educational video resources produced by InterCo...

Even if you're not quite sure what it is, chances are you've heard of Eye Movement Desensitisation Reprocessing (EMDR). EMDR is a form of psychotherapy developed by Francine Shapiro in the 1980s that was originally designed to alleviate the distress associated with traumatic memories, such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Many people affected by adoption have attributed the therapy with helping...

Evelyn Robinson is a mother who was separated from her first child through adoption in Scotland in 1970. She later emigrated to Bermuda and then South Australia in 1982, where she still resides. Evelyn has a wealth of knowledge and experience in relation to the long-term outcomes of adoption separation and has experienced post-adoption services from every perspective - as a client, a volunteer and...

Evelyn Robinson is a mother who was separated from her first child through adoption in Scotland in 1970. She later emigrated to Bermuda and then South Australia in 1982, where she still resides. Evelyn has a wealth of knowledge and experience in relation to the long-term outcomes of adoption separation and has experienced post-adoption services from every perspective - as a client, a volunteer and...

There is no "one size fits all" approach when it comes to finding a therapy that is right for you. Throughout this and coming seasons we'll be exploring a number of therapeutic options in the hope that amongst them you might find an option that you'd like to investigate further. First up we'll be discussing Trauma Sensitive Yoga (TSY) with Edwina Kempe, an accredited mental health social worker an...

The Queensland Parliament's Legal Affairs and Safety Committee have recently invited submissions for its inquiry into matters relating to donor conception information with a deadline of 29 April, 2022. It is important the committee receive as many submission as possible from people with lived experience of donor conception. With this in mind, Jo talks to Kate Drysdale, who is donor conceived and K...

In the last episode we spoke to Joyce about her story of losing a daughter to adoption and later reuniting with her. In this episode, we speak with Joyce's daughter, Kylie about how adoption has impacted her life and what her reunion with her mother has brought to her life. This episode discusses adult themes and listener discretion is advised. For more information go to http://www.jigsawqueenslan...

Joyce is a mother who lost a daughter to adoption in Rockhampton (Qld) in 1970. In this episode, Joyce shares her story with Jo, including her reunion with her daughter, Kylie in 1990. In the next episode Kylie shares her powerful story of how adoption has impacted her life. This episode discusses adult themes and listener discretion is advised. For more information go to http://www.jigsawqueensla...

In the first two episodes of Season Three, we speak to psychotherapist, author and lecturer, Nancy Verrier about her research into adoption and her books, 'The Primal Wound: Understanding the Adopted Child' (1993) and 'Coming Home to Self: The Adopted Child Grows Up' (2003). Nancy's first book turned the fairytale narrative of adoption on its head. She wasn't the first academic to explore the effe...

In the first two episodes of Season Three, we speak to psychotherapist, author and lecturer, Nancy Verrier about her research into adoption and her books, 'The Primal Wound: Understanding the Adopted Child' (1993) and 'Coming Home to Self: The Adopted Child Grows Up' (2003). Nancy's first book turned the fairytale narrative of adoption on its head. She wasn't the first academic to explore the effe...

Here is Part Two of our interview with Collette Glazebrook. Jo Sparrow talks to Collette about managing the lifelong legacy of adoption, weathering its storms and rejoicing in the sunny days with someone who has a great deal of experience with both. Collette Glazebrook was born in 1948 and adopted 3-days later. She has since gone on to discover she had ten siblings, and all but one were placed for...

Today we're taking talking about managing the lifelong legacy of adoption, weathering its storms and rejoicing in the sunny days with someone who has a great deal of experience with both. Collette Glazebrook was born in 1948 and adopted 3-days later. She has since gone on to discover she had ten siblings, and all but one were placed for adoption. Collette has tirelessly volunteered for Jigsaw Qld...

In this episode, Jane speaks to Nikki Hartmann from Relationships Australia about Integrated Birth Certificates. One of the recommendations of the Senate Inquiry into former forced adoption policies and practices and the Australian Government's response following the 2013 Apology for Forced Adoptions was the nationwide introduction of Integrated Birth Certificates. However, at the time this episod...

Rebecca Autumn Sansom is a New York documentary film maker whose latest offering, 'Reckoning with the Primal Wound' is the first film to explore Nancy Verrier's landmark book, 'The Primal Wound: Understanding the Adopted Child'. First published in 1993, Verrier's work remains the starting point for many adopted people when they begin to explore their experience. The documentaryexplores relinquishm...

Today's guest is an author and adoptee who was born in Sydney's Crown Street Women's Hospital in 1965 where she remained for a month because of a mild talipes diagnosis. When released from the hospital she was placed in a foster care arrangement with her future adoptive parents for a period of twelve months, until the adoption was finalised. Karen describes herself as a mother, feminist, performer...

In the second episode of our interview with Dr Gary Clapton, Jo asks him about his adoption research, with a particular focus on fathers who lost children to adoption. Gary is a father who lost a daughter to adoption in 1970. He is also a social worker who conducts research into adoption at The University of Edinburgh and is a committee member of the Father's Network Scotland and an advisor to 'Bi...

Dr Gary Clapton is a father who lost a daughter to adoption in 1970. He is also a Social Worker who conducts research into adoption at The University of Edinburgh and is a committee member of the Father's Network Scotland and an advisor to 'Birthlink'. In this episode Gary will be sharing his personal story with Jo Sparrow and in part two he'll be discussing his adoption research, with a particula...

Lynelle Long is a Vietnamese adoptee born in the early 70's who now resides in Sydney, Australia. She founded InterCountry Adoptee Voices (ICAV) in 1988 and has built it into a global network in the intercountry adoptee community. It is now one of the first worldwide platforms for adoptee-led organisations and individuals to collaborate, share and encourage one another - regardless of sending or a...

Bernadette Davison is a mother who lost a daughter to adoption in Cairns, Queensland in 1985 at the age of eighteen. In this episode she shares her story of that time, how this loss impacted her life in the years afterward, her reunion story and how attending a Federal Forced Adoption apology anniversary event in Western Australia, where she now resides, changed everything. This episode discusses...

In this episode, we talk to Link-Up Queensland Research Manager, Ruth Loli. Link-Up Qld works to enhance the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who were forcibly removed from their families as children or were affected by forcible removal policies. This includes work with elders, Mums, Dads, grandparents, aunties, uncles, sisters and brothers to reverse the cycle of trans-genera...

Jo Sparrow talks to Jo Stuurman about his experience as an adoptee who lived through the Stolen Generation. The Stolen Generations are Indigenous Australians who were forcibly removed from their families, community, and culture owing to government policies and laws throughout the 1900s, until at least 1970. Jo was adopted by a Dutch immigrant family along with two other Noongar children, and they...

In the second episode of our two-part adoption and addiction series, Jane speaks to David Bohl about the relationship between adoption and addiction. David is an adoptee from the USA who is a Clinical Substance Abuse Counsellor, Master Addiction Counsellor and currently works as an independent addiction and recovery consultant. David is a board member and addiction and recovery consultant to the N...

Kevin Barhydt is an adoptee living in New York who wrote a memoir about his adoption, childhood sexual abuse, addiction and recovery called 'Dear Stephen Michael's Mother'. By the age of 20, Kevin had succumbed to a suicidal lifestyle of drug dealing and prostitution. At age 45, and after many years of recovery, he began a painful journey to uncover his origins and the hopeful search for his mothe...

This year (2021), marks 30 years since the 1991 amendments to Queensland's 1964 Adoption of Children Act. The 1991 amendments entitled adopted people and their parents to receive identifying information about each other - unless the other party had lodged an objection (veto). Parents and adopted people tirelessly lobbied for the amendments for more than a decade and almost saw their efforts fail w...