The Adoption Files

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...

Please join me for a conversation with Toronto Canada stepparent adopted person Craig Wallace. https://www.ontario.ca/page/search-adoption-records People who are adopted, even by stepparents, are legally barred from accessing a certified copy of their original birth certificate. Some places allow an adopted person to access a noncertified copy at a specified age. The opinions of the host and their...

Please join me and Dani Joy as we explore the next two Cs of spiritual trauma: Consequences and Compliance. We continue to explore how spiritual trauma plays out in our lives as a mother of loss to adoption and as an adopted person. We are reading the book Holy Hurt: Understanding Spiritual Trauma and the Process of Healing by Hillary L McBride, PhD https://hillarylmcbride.com/holy-hurt-book/ http...

Please join me as I talk with New York adoptee, Elizabeth Barbour Elizabeth Barbour (she/her) is an adoptee and adoptive mom with 27 years of reunion experience. In 1999, she found her birthmom, birthdad and eleven (!) brothers and sisters. An adoption reunion coach, speaker and author of two books, she’s currently writing her third about building healthy relationships in adoption reunions.  Eliz...

Please join me for part 2 of my conversation with Ohio adoptee and author Paige L Adams Strickland Paige can be found places online, including: @paigestricklanddom https://paigestrickland.substack.com/ https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7263308.Paige_L_Adams_Strickland https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a-talk-about-the-different-types-of-adoption/id1598023322?i=1000585139950 https://podcast...

Please join me as I talk with Paige L Adams Strickland, Ohio adoptee and author Paige has been a guest on the podcast in the past. This two episode talks a bit more about just what is included when an Ohio adopted person requests their adoption file. Paige can be found at numerous places online, including: @paigestricklanddom https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/134608472-akin-to-the-truth https://...

Please join me as I continue my conversation with mother of loss to adoption Cindy Shultz. We talk about how the loss of a child can lead to substance use, and how the love of a child can lead to sobriety. Cindy Shultz is a mother of church-coerced child loss who transforms lived experience into advocacy. Raised in the shadow of poverty and stigma, Cindy was a mother in crisis when Catholic Charit...

Please join Dani and I as we continue to grapple with how spiritual and religious trauma have impacted our lives both through the lens of adoption and in our lives in general. Our conversation is being guided by the book Holy Hurt: Understanding Spiritual Trauma and the Process of Healing https://hillarylmcbride.com/holy-hurt-book/ Dani can be found at: https://medium.com/@danijoy https://www.apa....

Join Dani Joy and I as we talk about what we have learned so far as we finish Chaper 2 of Holy Hurt: Understanding Spiritual Trauma and the Process of Healing by Hillary L McBride PhD Dani Joy 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 t...

Please join Dani Joy and I as we continue to talk about spiritual trauma and adoption, using the book Holy Hurt: Understadning Spiritual Trauma and the Process of Healing by Hillary L McBride, PhD Dani Joy 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 gue...

Please join Dani Joy and I as we continue our conversation about spiritual trauma and adoption, using the book Holy Hurt: Spiritual Trauma and the Process of Healing, by Hillary L McBride, PhD. We have reached page 28, and are talking about McBrides' lists of the physical, social, relational and spiritual symptoms of spiritual trauma. Dani Joy can be found at: https://medium.com/@danijoy Holy...

Please join Dani and I as we continue to explore the intersection of adoption and spiritual trauma. We continue to use the book Holy Hurt: Understanding Spiritual Trauma and the Process of Healing by Hillary L McBride, PhD as a framework for our conversation. Today we cover material from pages 37-48 Dani Joy is a first mom. She can be found at https://medium.com/@danijoy I am a Late Discovery, Int...

Please join me and Adriana Rockefeller as we talk about what has happened in her fight to be recognized as a person since we spoke early last year in a two part interview here on the podcast. Adriana is still fighting to be recognized by Romania and Canada as a legal person. You can be a part of making that happen, as her court case continues. Adriana was raised as Roxana Pamela. Two years ago, sh...