Voices of Adoption

Real bonds with kids are not built face to face. They grow shoulder to shoulder, one small moment at a time, says stepmom coach Alicia Krasko. In Voices of Adoption, host Donna Pope sits down with someone outside the adoption triad who understands its emotional core anyway. Alicia Krasko is not an adoptee, an adoptive parent, or a birth parent. She is a stepmom coach, and the guilt she coaches ste...

Brooke Pace has been told her kids are not really hers more than once. Sometimes it comes from a stranger on a field trip. Sometimes it comes from her own sons, testing the idea out loud. In this episode of Voices of Adoption, host Donna Pope talks with Brooke Pace, a mother of five who built her family through both birth and adoption. After a hysterectomy in her twenties closed the door on more b...

Alicia Divico, a licensed mental health counselor and certified addiction professional in Tampa, Florida, has spent years watching one connection most families never make, that adoption related loss can resurface years later as anxiety, identity struggles, or addiction. In this episode of Voices of Adoption, host Donna Pope asks Alicia Divico of Personal Wellness Solutions the questions many adopt...

For Amanda and Tony, becoming parents was never going to be defined by genetics. Adoption had been part of their conversations even before they were married, and after years of navigating fertility challenges, they realized they were genuinely called to adoption and ready to build their family in a different way. In this heartfelt conversation, Amanda and Tony share the emotional and often unexpec...

Jeff and Christine had been matched with a birth mom for exactly one week when the phone rang in the middle of the night. She was headed into an emergency C-section, and their daughter would arrive within 48 hours. They booked a flight, landed just in time, and met their baby girl in the NICU. Three days later, they sat down with Donna Pope to share what those first days really feel like. This is...

A startle reflex that didn't fully fade. A nervous system still bracing for danger years after the danger passed. Then one text from an adoptive mom that read, "I think we're eighty percent there." In this episode of Voices of Adoption, host Donna Pope interviews Emily Roper, a neuro-developmental delay therapist, doula, and certified midwife's assistant who has spent years tracing kids' hardest s...

Foster parent and junior high teacher Amie Huggins wrote two rules on her Utah foster application. No adoptions. No long-term placements. Sixteen years later, she is the adoptive mother of four daughters and a grandmother of five. In this episode of Voices of Adoption, with host Donna Pope, Amie shares how each daughter arrived, why she stopped fighting the word forever, and what 25 years in a jun...

Ben and LaCol Kjar share their adoption journey to three kids, the movie Standout, and the name written down twice. Ten years of trying. Four rounds of IVF. Two adoption matches that fell apart. Then one phone call, one flight, and three kids in 13 months. In this episode of Voices of Adoption, host Donna Pope interviews Ben and LaCol, the family behind the movie Standout and two baby reveal video...

Two child welfare insiders pull back the curtain on foster care and adoption. In this episode of Voices of Adoption, host Donna Pope sits down with George Goodlow and Beth Hyerman, hosts of Laughing Through The Struggles, who have spent years in casework, foster care, licensing, and adoption. They get honest about reunification, kinship placement, and what it really takes to help a child reach a s...

He called 22 people, mom or dad, before he learned what family really means. Michael Sheaffer moved through eight foster homes by age six, lost his name and his siblings to adoption, and rebuilt his life one honest relationship at a time. Now he runs Welcome Home Youth Advocacy to walk beside foster and adoptive families through the hard middle. In this episode of Voices of Adoption with host Donn...

For twenty-eight years, Cheryl Parkhurst has worked inside school systems with neurodivergent teenagers, and she has watched the same quiet pattern repeat in adoptive families. A child settles in, the calm honeymoon period passes, and then behavior that nobody expected starts to surface. In this episode of Voices of Adoption, co-hosted by Nathan Gwilliam and Donna Pope, host Donna sits down with C...

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...