Voices of Adoption

Shelby Kilgore was seventeen when she traveled to the country she was born in and met the woman who had named her Beautiful Truth. One trip to South Korea became the beginning of a calling she has spent more than a decade pursuing. In this episode of Voices of Adoption, host Donna Pope interviews Shelby Kilgore, a Korean American adoptee and filmmaker who documents the stories...

When Sara Bradford's son was identified with autism at 14 months, she started recognizing the same traits across her family and eventually in herself. One diagnosis became a new way of seeing the people she loved most. In this episode of Voices of Adoption, host Donna Pope interviews Sara Bradford, an autism advocate, author, and founder of SJ Childs Global Network, about what curiosity and accept...

Living in California, far from her family, working two jobs, and facing the loss of her housing, Sarah found herself with an unexpected pregnancy and a decision she had no map for. In this episode of Voices of Adoption, host Donna Pope interviews Sarah Neff, a birth parent who chose open adoption for her son. Her story moves through a prayer request she posted in a Facebook group, the stranger who...

Birth father Jason Coombs carries a story most birth fathers never get to tell. At twenty-six, after four felony charges and a substance use disorder he could not shake, he learned he was going to be a father. His first reaction was to disappear. What happened over the next eighteen years became one of the closest open adoption relationships in the country. In this episode of Voices of Adoption wi...

Brian J Baker and Lachandra Baker made family happen three times over: Brian adopted Aujie at ten. Brian's father adopted Brian at twenty-one. Lachandra's father adopted her sister. When Your Child Chooses You Back explores how kinship adoption, blended families, and interracial marriage taught them what family truly means. When Love Needs Legal Permission For Brian, adoption came late. His biolog...

Ashley and Eric Felton wanted to be parents. What stood between them and that goal was four rounds of IUI, a complication that ended fertility treatment permanently, and a hysterectomy the day after Christmas. In this episode of Voices of Adoption, host Donna Pope sits down with Ashley and Eric just 32 days after bringing home their son Colton to talk about the grief, the financial realities, and...

Adoptive parents pour everything into becoming parents. And then the real work begins. Dr. Hilary Claire, clinical psychologist and author of The Motherhood Reset, joins Donna Pope to untangle the specific emotional and psychological challenges adoptive families face long after placement day. This is a practical, science-grounded conversation for every parent trying to show up better. The 1-in-3 R...

Foster mom of nine Jessica Hanna made a childhood promise: any child in her care would stay until a permanent solution existed. In this episode of Voices of Adoption with host Donna Pope, Jessica shares how she gave up a modeling career, adopted six children, and launched a nonprofit fighting for child welfare reform in Washington State. A Dark Staircase and a Three-Month-Old Baby At 21, Jessica w...

Spirit baby medium Kelly Ann Meehan has spent over a decade telling parents their child may already be reaching for them before arrival. In this episode of Voices of Adoption with host Donna Pope, Kelly shares how her lifelong intuitive abilities led her to build a practice rooted in clinical somatic psychology and spirit baby communication. Her practice blends clinical somatic psychology with spi...

Korean adoptee Anna Jinja Mather avoided her story for decades. At 47, she finally stopped running and started choosing herself. Her journey will change how you see belonging. In this episode of Voices of Adoption with host Donna Pope, Anna shares her story of being raised by a Norwegian family in Iowa after being adopted as an infant from Seoul, South Korea; she wanted nothing more than...

What if the key to a successful adoption match was simply being yourself? Libby and Cory Rhoads share their adoption journey, sharing their beliefs in creating an authentic profile book and building an open relationship with their daughter Penny's birth mom. A 24-hour Matching In this episode of Voices of Adoption, Voices of Adoption, host Donna Pope sits down with Libby R...

Early childhood educator Danielle Baker shares why defining family values and prioritizing unstructured play are the two things adoptive families need most. Values and Play in Adoptive Families Danielle Baker has spent years working with families navigating adoption, special needs, and complex transitions. As a registered early childhood educator and the founder of Being Connected eLearning I...

Kristina and Herbert Heagh-Avritt explain why education at home builds stronger attachment, better life skills, and more confidence for adopted children. Rethinking Education for Adopted Children Kristina Heagh-Avritt spent 27 years as a public school teacher before realizing she could make a bigger difference by working directly with parents. Together with her husband Herbert, she created Vibrant...

Lena Livinsky, speech pathologist, BLOOM framework creator and host of The Livin'sky Podcast, shares why adopted children often struggle with food and what parents can do about it. Feeding Challenges in Adoption When Lena Livinsky prepared a meal for her son and saw fear on his face instead of excitement, everything shifted. That single moment changed the way she approached feeding, parenting, and...

In this candid conversation with trauma care practitioner and adoptive parent Stacy Uhrig, host Donna Pope of Voices of Adoption explores the complicated space where gratitude, loss, anxiety, and attachment all intersect. Together, they name the often-unspoken reality that every adoption begins with rupture and that these early experiences can echo through a child’s nervous system for years. Under...

Elmarie Arnold discovered her authentic voice through life’s most challenging moments, transforming decades of silence into a mission of hope for the adoption community. Adopted as a newborn in apartheid South Africa by loving parents, she initially struggled to balance gratitude with her need for authentic self-expression after a childhood experience taught her to suppress adoption-related feelin...

In this episode of Voices of Adoption, host Donna Pope sits down with Christina Dent, founder of End It For Good, a nonprofit working to shift how we approach drugs and addiction from punishment to help-centered solutions. One Placement Changed Everything. Christina and her husband started fostering in 2014. Their three placements produced three different outcomes: one child they adopted, one retu...

In this continuation of our two-part conversation with Simon Benn, host of the Thriving Adoptees podcast, Donna Pope host of Voices of Adoption, digs deeper into what it actually takes to move toward greater stability and growth. Building on the rock paper scissors metaphor from Part 1, this episode focuses on practical application. Together, they discuss how adoptive parents can better support th...

In this episode of Voices of Adoption, host Donna Pope interviews Simon Benn, creator and host of Thriving Adoptees, a podcast with over 620 episodes dedicated to helping adoptees heal, grow, and thrive. Simon shares his adoption story, the moment a teddy bear revealed a connection to his birth mother he never knew existed, and the metaphor he developed to challenge one of adoption's most accepted...

In this episode of Voices of Adoption, host Donna Pope interviews Tarcia Smith, host of the Adoption Journey podcast and co-founder of Black Adoptees Meetup. Tarcia shares her personal adoption story, her complicated reunions with both biological parents, and why she built a national community for Black adoptees who felt underrepresented in traditional adoption spaces. Understanding the Journey Ta...

In this episode of Voices of Adoption, host Donna Pope interviews Rachel Forbes, a Korean American adoptee and licensed clinical social worker who specializes in trauma-informed therapy. Adopted from South Korea at three months old by white Jewish parents, Rachel's journey through depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts ultimately led her to become a therapist dedicated to helping other adoptee...

Colton was adopted at three months old into a family where four out of five children were adopted. Growing up black in a white family felt regular until others started pointing out the differences. External expectations about how he should act conflicted with who he actually was, creating years of identity crisis. In this episode of Voices of Adoption, host Donna Pope sits down with Colton Prestwi...

In this episode of Voices of Adoption, host Donna Pope interviews Dr. Brett Furst, a clinical psychologist and adoptee who specializes in treating adult adoptees struggling with substance abuse and personality disorders. Dr. Furst shares his personal adoption story and the specialized treatment programs he developed after noticing adoptees weren't responding to traditional interventions. Understan...

In this episode of Voices of Adoption, hosts Donna Pope and Nathan Gwilliam interview Linda Sexton, an adoptive mom who became an open adoption pioneer over 30 years ago when she and her husband were rejected by traditional agencies for being "too old" at 36 and 42. Building Connection Linda shares how she initially believed open adoption benefited birth parents most, only to discover the real win...

Liz DeBetta always carried a deep intuition that her birth mother loved her and was thinking about her. As a domestic infant adoptee who grew up in a loving family in New Jersey, she discovered at 14 that writing could help her process the big emotions she felt but couldn't name. Connection In this episode of the Voices of Adoption with host Donna Pope, Liz shares the beautiful moment she received...